


Finding Toxel

by An Observing Litten (HarukaWritesThings)



Series: Litten's Narrative [2]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Adventure, Angst (a little!), Battling, Boys In Love, FirstFriendShipping, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Investigation, Love, M/M, Musical References, Platonic Love, Pure Love, Romance, SatoGou, Soft Boys, Talking Pokémon (Thank Litten for this), journeyshipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:48:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24373810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarukaWritesThings/pseuds/An%20Observing%20Litten
Summary: My life was perfect until the arrival of my Trainer's 11th anniversary. A Toxel has hatched to steal her attention. And a certain day, he went missing. It was all my fault!
Relationships: Gou | Goh/Satoshi | Ash Ketchum
Series: Litten's Narrative [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1745155
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	Finding Toxel

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! I wasn't expecting such a good feedback on my original story, "A Change of Routine"! Thank you so much once again for the positive feedback I got so far! If you didn't read that story yet I highly recommend it to do so before diving in this sequel due to the presence of some spoilers that were revealed in the first chapter. 
> 
> A few quick notes:
> 
> \- I like to think that this story happens somewhere between episode 22 and 23 of Pokémon Journeys/Pocket Monsters (2019)! And it's a sequel to other AO3 text I have called "A Change of Routine", also happening in the same interval of time between the official episodes.  
> \- I'm not an English native speaker so I ask apologies in advance in case the writing is a little weird sometimes.  
> \- Canon characters' voices = Japanese  
> \- (EDIT September 2020) Now the chapter has got an illustrated header!  
> \- (EDIT November 2020) I did a general revision to the text to fix grammar and verbal snags, as well doing very minor alterations. Tags were added. Some links were added for the purpose to improve the overall reading experience.  
> \- (EDIT January 2021) I did few important changes in a segment of text to improve the overall balance of tone of the story.  
> I hope you enjoy this new text! Happy reading!  
> 

_Tuesday afternoon._ The strong and hot sunlight announced the arrival of the month of May a few days earlier. And inside Hope’s bedroom, the computer’s speakers were in full blast with a playlist randomly chosen by the machinery. At the moment, the first chores of [a music we both loved to listen to in Alola](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT9dbmUbmyY) were playing. And being a karaoke session, we were dancing on our sits as we were singing the lyrics. It‘s always awesome meowing out loud the human vocals of this song! The over four minutes of music had passed in an eye-blink.

Hope’s passion is music. She absolutely _loves_ music. Everything has got a sound. It’s present in our daily lives. They can invoke emotions and as such it’s an art by its own. Words all told to me by my Trainer. _Don’t_ get fooled by her feminine and cute looks because this girl is a _great tomboy_. Back in Alola, she was that kind of lass who wouldn’t be scared to climb an Alolan Exeggutor _just for the challenge_ and observe the tropical landscape around her. She did some _crazy_ stuff during the Island Challenge and I love her for that madness. Some of my favourite moments with her were the night musical festivals at the beaches. Hope’s eyes were shining the first time she heard the locals singing in their own dialect. I wasn’t fully understanding what they were singing but I felt an incredible energy inside my soul. It was like a chant to summon courage. Something _powerful_. Even to this day, never forgetting about her origins, Hope listens to Alolan music. Especially before going to physiotherapy sessions and to hospital surgeries.

The bicycle crash was something I _wished_ I could forget about. I was there at the day it happened. I’m still certain it _wasn’t_ her fault, but yes other human that for some reason was driving his car on the wrong road lane and that had startled Hope. She changed the direction by instinct but ended losing control of her vehicle. Her tire hit hard on the metal rail and we fell from _very_ high. I lost conscience. When I woke up, my sight was blurry and I took a while to notice that I was listening to a siren and a human agitation around me, alongside with some metallic and electric sounds. Then it was when I’ve noticed. Hope was being taken away to an _ambulance_. I was set apart to a _Pokémon Center_.

I don’t remember much of my Pokémon Center stay. But I remember seeing _weird_ and _scary_ objects doing things on me. I _highly_ suspect this is the reason _why_ I started to dislike hospital scenarios and fell anxious in this sort of places. Nurse Joy had told Hope’s parents that I was _extremely_ lucky to have _just_ broken a paw. Unfortunately, Hope’s case was much more severe from what I posteriorly learnt and it felt a _real_ shock to me. Her parents were _devastated._ When we had both been discharged and returned home I could see in Hope’s eyes how _frustrated_ she was and she kept asking me apologies for her grave condition. She thought I would be upset after her because she wouldn’t be able to continue to travel with me. But I proved Hope wrong and showed my solidarity by licking her hand. I _always_ stood by the girl’s side and that has brought some relief to her.

The girl was barely eating on the first weeks due to depression. It took a while before she could find again her path of happiness. I eventually recovered from my paw but she was still on her wheelchair. There was an evening where our living room television was broadcasting an Alolan concert and something must have clicked in Hope’s mind. She recovered her appetite and the kid started a routine of listening to music _every day_ in her personal computer. _Pop, Synth, Rock, Jazz, Ballad, Dance, Funk, Disco, Rap, Hip-Hop, Classic, Movie Soundtrack, Game Soundtrack…_ Anything was valid in terms of musical genre. I soon had figured: music was a _catharsis_ for my Trainer.

Thankfully, Hope had recently started to show signs of recovery thanks to the physiotherapy sessions. She could now walk alone in her small bedroom even though she still needed to hang herself on some objects and couldn’t dispense the wheelchair just _yet_. I also like to think that music is equally helping her out because she occasionally tries to dance a little while standing up.

“This song is always _so good_ to sing out loud!”, she commented to me with a big sweet smile. “You know, Litten? I want the lyrics to become real. The moment I manage to walk again on my own, we _need_ to travel again!”

I nodded in affirmation with my head, I was in full agreement with her! Seeing her slowly getting better gave me a greater belief that it was all a matter of time before that dream became reality.

It was Hope’s birthday a week later. She had received a special guest at home. A cousin of hers that was a young adult but pretty chill spirited. He had travelled from the region of Galar in purpose to make her a surprise. The man had brought her a present: a Pokémon Egg. She was marveled and extremely excited as she was endlessly thanking him! Hope asked back then:

“Which Pokémon is going to hatch?!”

“You’ll figure out in the meantime! Hope, once this Pokémon hatches you’ll have a great companion. I’m pretty sure it’ll share a _common taste_ as you have!”, her cheerful cousin told her alongside with a wink. “Please raise it well!”

“You’ll _bet_ I will!”, she said this with great determination in her face. I wasn’t seeing this rebellious side of hers for a long time already! I was happy.

Since this day on, Hope became obsessed after this mysterious purple egg. I never went to Galar before, I wondered how it looked like and which kind of Pokémon live in there. The very few I know about Galar are things I’ve seen on television. They pass good Pokémon battle broadcasts from that region in our favourite sports channel. Both Hope and I didn’t know what to expect to originate from the egg. My Trainer was almost permanently paying a lot of attention to it, resting in her desk. She talked to it, she was singing to it, playing music for it and holding it. There were few nights she even slept while _hugging_ that egg. I was starting to dislike this spoiling treatment. I felt like being put in a corner.

It only got worse the day the Pokémon finally has born. _Good Arceus,_ what was _that thing_?! He was purple, he was also lilac coloured, he looked like he was wearing a human diaper, he was making an unsettling grimace with his tongue stuck out and his forehead was flickering a white light. _Boy,_ _he was ugly_! _Really, ugly_!! _So ugly_ that I could even find _beauty_ in the scales of a _Feebas!_ Hope quickly figured out thanks to a phone app that this Pokémon species was named Toxel.

“Toxel, huh? _Wow!!_ It‘s so nice to meet you, Toxel! Welcome to our world!! I’m Hope! I promise to be a good Trainer to you!”, she enthusiastically presented herself to that _annoying thing_.

Toxel smiled and lifted his arms while saying a “Hello!” I could understand. Then, that thing looked to me and I felt _extremely_ uncomfortable. I approached him and tried to be nice, just to please Hope: “Hi, Toxel. Good to meet you, _I guess_... You’re _ugly,_ by the way. I’m Hope’s Litten. And I’m _keeping my big yellow eyes on you._ _Better you treat her nicely or I’ll present my sharp claws to your delicate skin._ ”

Toxel just stared to me for a few seconds and lifted his arms while saying “Hello, Litten! Let’s be friends!” and nuzzling me afterwards with its head. _Yup,_ Hope and I figured out that this Pokémon knew an Electric-type move named Nuzzle. A tingling feeling crossed my whole body, I felt a shiver and felt to the side. _I was Paralyzed_.

“Litten! Are you ok?!”, exclaimed Hope in surprise. “Whoa, so you must be an Electric-type Pokémon! _So cool!!_ ”, the girl commented to the new-born as she picked up a Paralyze Heal flask and sprayed on me.

I just let out a sigh of annoyance. _That ugly thing did it in purpose, I was certain._ _Quite bold from him…_

And he was surely Bold-natured. He had proven in just a few days to be a Pokémon that doesn’t really know the meaning of fear. Once I’ve put my physical integrity at risk trying to protect him from a shelf that had a kit of knives located at the kitchen. The grimacing baby Pokémon made the cutlery fall and I pushed him to the side as I vigorously avoided _each_ falling sharp edge _stabbing_ on the floor. I saw my _whole life_ passing through my eyes in just _six_ seconds. _A good part of that mental cinematic was pretty boring…_

Yesterday, I got really upset after Toxel in the evening. I was watching my favourite television series and something _big_ was about to happen in the second half of the episode. The whole power of the house was cut before the protagonist could finish the sentence. Why? Because that _uncontrollable purple thing_ was _playing_ with his _fingers_ in an _electric socket_. It wouldn’t have been so bad if that power cut didn’t _destroy_ the television provider’s Setup-Box and the Internet router. I _lost_ the _best part_ of the show and I was _screaming_ in negation!! I chased that annoying thing throughout the _whole_ house in a way I got scolded by both Hope’s parents and my Trainer herself for the consequent mess of the pursuit and for a book having fallen on Toxel’s head, making him cry. They got so mad after me that I wasn’t allowed to sleep inside Hope’s bedroom. I had to spend the night at the living room. If it wasn’t for the fact that I care too much about Hope, I swear I would have _burnt the building._

During that same night, I removed my collar for a brief moment and looked to the Everstone attached on it. I started to think to myself: If I evolved to a Torracat, would Hope begin to give me more attention? Because I would be cuter, bigger and even stronger? For the first time since I can remember, I was pondering to _evolve_. But I was afraid. What if after upon evolution things didn’t turn out right and end up forever stuck in the body of a Torracat? What if my personality would change? I had heard stories of Pokémon that changed _completely_ upon evolution, almost unrecognizable from their previous selves. I decided in the end that I wouldn’t take the risk. So, I wore back my collar and tried to fall asleep. It was a rough day and I just wanted to rest.

Friday morning. I got awakened by an _awful noise_ combined with a _stench_. It seemed like a Skuntank had entered in the living room and freed his _entire_ _flatulence_ out of its _entrails_. But, no. The smell was coming from Toxel after eating a berry. The ugly baby was showing off the Poison-type move Belch. I _nearly_ fainted with that. _The smell!!!! THE SMELL!!! DISGUSTING!!_ I was so nauseous that I had lost my appetite.

Hope and her parents had already taken their breakfast and seemed to be calmer. They even laughed after Toxel’s move. _What was so funny about it, anyway?..._ The human family was already dressed up and ready to exit, because Hope had other physiotherapy session to attend. She turned to my direction and told from afar:

“Litten! I’ll be away for a few hours again for some locomotion treatment. Please keep an eye on Toxel while we’re not here, alright?”

I closed my eyes and turned to the side. I wasn’t happy to be babysitting that stinky Pokémon again. But I had no choice. The girl smiled and waved a “See you later!” as her parents repeated the same words. Her father pushed her wheelchair outside the main hall and her mother closed the door.

Now I was alone with that _thing_. _Again_. He was staring to me with that grimacing face. I tried to avoid ocular contact every time it happened. _Why_ out of _every_ Pokémon that exist, Hope’s cousin had to gift a _Toxel_?! There’s _nothing charming_ nor _interesting_ about this _purple blot of trouble_.

“Big sister!”, he said out of nowhere.

“I’m _not_ your big sister…”, I corrected Toxel while still avoiding to look at him. “I just want you to leave me _alone_.”

“I want to play with you!”

“Oh, is _that_ so?”, I sarcastically asked Toxel as I faced him again and made the effort to look to his _boring-looking_ eyes. “ _Guess what?_ I couldn’t care _less_ about that. Do you remember what you’ve done to me yesterday? I _missed_ the _biggest spoiler_ of yesterday night’s _show_. And it _was your fault!_ It’s going to take a day or two before a technician can appear to fix what you’ve _done!!_ ”

Toxel looked to me and started to use another move he knew: Tearful Look. But it had no effect on me. I kept glaring to him. He then started to crawl towards me and I was going backwards while arching my spine.

_“Don’t touch me!”_

“But I want to play with my big sister!”

“I’m _telling_ you for the _nth time_ that I am _NOT your SISTER_!!”

The ugly thing kept ignoring my requests and decided to touch me with his paw. Toxel was chuckling out of my misery. A Nuzzle move came afterwards and I once again felt my whole body weird and got Paralyzed. That’s when I gave a loud shout that echoed the entire apartment: “I’M FED UP OF YOU!”

Toxel stopped to touch my fur and observed me searching for a Cheri Berry that was available in the food dispenser. I soon became better from the Special Condition. But I kept venting out my frustration:

“My _life_ was _perfect_ with Hope! Just _me and her_! Since _you_ appeared, she _barely_ gives me _any attention_! It’s only you, _you_ and _just_ YOU!! I don’t understand how can she _like_ such a _weird_ Pokémon like _you_ , Toxel!!”

As soon as I finished to vent out, I ran to the entrance door to cross the door flap. Toxel crawled after me and stopped in the exterior carpet.

“Where are you going, big sister?!”

“Taking some _holidays_ from you! You tired me out since you hatched almost two weeks ago! You’re a Crawling Troublemaker!!”

“Big sister!!”, Toxel shouted loud with his arms stretched forward.

I just ran away without turning back. I didn’t want to listen to him anymore. Eventually, I stopped to listen to his constant calls the more distant I became from home. Now I was alone. Like I’ve felt for the latest times. Except it felt nice listening to the only sound around me: the swinging treetop leaves.

I walked around without any particular destination. It was good to return to these morning walks. I wasn’t doing them since that belching new-born had hatched. I quickly arrived to the downtown and I was seeing the usual human movement, back and forth with all sorts of objects and conversations either on the phone or to a someone nearby them. I returned to the docks. The sea was quite calm and there were very few Pokémon around. I saw some people walking on the footstep and an adult couple had called my attention. They were giving their hands and the woman kissed the cheek of the man, making him laugh out loud of satisfaction. An idea flashed on my mind at that moment! There was a place where I could actually visit! Thinking about it made me greatly excited, so I sprinted immediately out of the port towards the destination I had in my head. And I had absolutely _no regrets_ , otherwise I would have missed an _amazing_ scene that I would soon experience in live.

* * *

There it was. The Cerise Laboratory. It passed two weeks the time I had left from here. I was pretty happy to climb these stony stairs again! And there was an open window way above, inviting me to go inside. It could be reached by ascending a nearby tree and doing a leap of faith from an extended branch. I realized upon the successful manoeuvre that I was in a room with lots of books and two sofas. The humans working in here were probably in the lower level. Before I could get out of the division, I begun listening to a progressively loud scratchy noise of fast stepping alongside the following threatening sentence I managed to listen from afar:

“ _Someone’s here!! Show up, intruder!!_ ”

And the clearer it was the sound, the clearer it was getting for me of who was talking. In the same instant of realization, I got the answer. It was the same individual I was thinking about!

“Litten?!”

“Yamper!”

“Litten!! You’re back!!!”, he exclaimed out loud in joy as he wiggled his tail and rushed to lick my face.

“Yes, I am!”, I reacted with a small laughter. The lick was tickling me a lot.

A female voice was heard right after, revealing herself a few seconds later.

“Yamper, you need to stop to run over the whole Laboratory by the minimum noise you he-“

The girl stopped as soon as she saw me and let out a surprised look.

“ _That pronounced fang in your lower jaw…_ You’re Hope’s Litten! Aren’t you?”

I nodded in affirmation to Chloe. She gave a subtle smile as she bent herself a little closer to me with her hands placed on her navy-pattern dress.

“The boys told me the story about your Trainer when they returned in that day. Hope is a real fighter. Make sure she never drops the towel!”, she commented as she was petting my head.

That was a good expression of support, I really appreciated it. And my duty was precisely that! I wanted to make sure that Hope manages to walk again! Chloe had gotten up and placed her hands on her hips, continuing to talk to me:

“Why don’t you go downstairs? I’m sure the others will enjoy to know that you’re around here!”

“ _Oh!_ _Oh!_ You _need_ to!! Pikachu and Raboot will be happy!”, assured the excited Yamper.

“It’ll be a pleasure! I want to know how are my remaining friends!”

And we followed Chloe down the polished wooden staircase. We then entered in the kitchen. Pikachu and Raboot were having their breakfast and didn’t see right away that I was there. Chloe then alerted:

“Look who’s here!”

The two Pokémon looked in curiosity. Pikachu’s eyes glowed up as a wide smile covered his face. Raboot’s eyes opened slightly as well. Yamper laughed because of their reactions and said:

“We’ve got a visit!”

“Litten! It’s so _good_ to see you again!!”, said the thrilled electric mouse Pokémon as he ran to me. “Tail greeting!”

I laughed the moment he stretched his tail to me. It’s more practical for me to use a paw but I tried fulfilling his wish by using my thin tail. And so there was a “high five”, _sort of!_

“I was missing that cheerful spirit of yours, Pikachu!”

“Welcome back.”, said Raboot with a stretched paw and the other hidden inside his fur. I could see a discreet smile behind the collar.

“Not sure if I miss your stoicism but I’ll take that you missed me too, confess.” I told as I let out a wide smirking expression considering I was purposely messing around with the fire rabbit.

He blushed with a frowning expression.

“Just _tap_ my paw, _already._ ”

“ _Busted!!_ ”, I laughed as I did what he was asking. The laughter didn’t last longer because my stomach decided to ruin the atmosphere. The Pokémon heard its desire for breakfast. I had only eaten a Cheri Berry a while earlier.

Raboot smirked back as he placed his paw back on the fur and commented:

“I should have figured. You were actually looking for a free place to eat. _Sneaky._ ”

“ _H-Hey!!_ I’m _not_ like that! I just didn't eat yet…”, I denied with a blush.

“You didn’t eat breakfast, Litten?”, asked Pikachu with curiosity.

“ _It’s a long story…_ ”, I replied with my downcast head and looking to the side.

“Well, if you like you can eat part of my breakfast. Serve yourself!”, he assured me as he showed the berries on his cup.

“You can eat my part too!”, added Yamper with a wide smile.

“Well, I don’t mind if you eat from my cup as well.”, shrugged Raboot in a neutral tone.

“You guys are awesome!... _Thank you!!_ ”, I thanked them with pleading eyes as I was really happy about their kindness. So, I started to eat a bit from every cup to give a fair proportion for everyone. They seemed to be finding fun the fact I was doing that. Same thing for Chloe, who was observing us four.

Our attentions had quickly turned to a white-coated man that was passing by the main hall with a briefcase, commenting something to Professor Cerise. The main door was opened and then closed afterwards. Chloe’s father then entered in the same division as ours with a pleased expression.

“So, dad? What did he say?”, the pigtailed girl asked him.

“He’s fully healed now.”, Professor Cerise responded. “Even the doctor is surprised by how quickly and well the wounds have healed.”

“I guess _someone_ must have been _extremely_ cautious in making sure that the treatment was being followed accordingly…”, softly commented Chloe with a slight mischievous facial expression as she looked to other direction. Her father laughed after her comment.

“You see, Chloe. Part of the recovery process is also through happiness! Not just the medicines that are prescribed by a doctor!”

“Ooh, _I surely know_ about it, dad… And _you too_ as well…”, the girl nodded with some constraint. “Are they still in the dorm?”

“They are. The doctor had just gotten out from it. They should hurry to have some breakfast. It isn’t good to be fasting for so long.”

The short-haired man then noticed about my presence. He kept smiling.

“Oh? Litten has returned! Good morning, Litten! Your presence is going to be a good surprise for the boys!”

“I’ll go call them.”, Chloe said as she started to walk to the main hall.

I looked to the other Pokémon and they seemed to know what I was meaning with my facial expression. Pikachu smirked. Yamper kept happily huffing. Raboot gave out a slight sigh of annoyance. We all went after Chloe.

We stood behind the dorm door in just about one minute. The blossom-named girl knocked the wooden surface with her knuckles.

“ _Boys?_ Hurry up and come to have breakfast! We’re waiting for you!”

There was no response. We Pokémon looked to each other in confusion. They should be able to listen, shouldn’t they? They were supposedly up because of the visit of the doctor. The lack of response started to annoy Chloe so she knocked the door for a second time.

“Goh?! Ash?! I said it’s time for breakfast! Please hurry up!!”

And still nothing. I could hear a glazing Raboot giving another sigh as he whispered:

“ _I’ve got a bad feeling about this…_ ”

We weren’t really understanding what was going on. Chloe was becoming even more irritated by the way she was crossing her arms and tapping her foot hard on the floor. Even Yamper was getting disturbed.

“Chloe’s going to enter the room, _I know it…_ ”, the yellow and white canine commented with worry.

“ _Listen, you two!!_ I’m going to count to _three_!!! If you _don’t_ open this door inside this interval of time _I WILL_!!!”

“ _Uh oh…_ ”, yelped Pikachu.

“ _I told you!!_ ”, noted Yamper.

“If you want to know my opinion, guys, my opulent fang’s betting there’s going to be a _bomb_ in the next three seconds.”, I said to all the Pokémon around me.

“ _One!..._ ”, shouted Chloe to the door.

“By _bomb_ , do you mean, something _explosive_?”, asked me a constrained Raboot with a slightly nervousness tone in his voice.

“TWO!!...”, Chloe shouted next.

“ _Oooh, yes._ ”, I responded with a naughty smile to the rabbit Pokémon. “ _Explosive_ and to have a right to _fireworks._ _Just like a Blacephalon!_ ”

“ _THREE_!!!...”, finished Chloe as she immediately turned the door knob and furiously opened it. We all looked inside and the reactions were _diverse_! My jaw was dropped in amazement. Pikachu had put his paws on the top of his head with his mouth entirely open in surprise. Raboot’s eyes almost looked tiny dots as his arms were almost stretched to the sides in a pose of someone who was about to inquiry a loud “ _What?!_ ”. Yamper kept smiling the same way as ever with the difference that he was chuckling hard. Last, but not least, Chloe robotically lifted her arms out of startlement as she gave two steps backwards and was blushing hard.

“ _GUYS!!!_ ”

_We caught the lovebirds kissing in the middle of the dorm. The same instant the door opened the boys had immediately stepped away, yelping out of a scare of the door’s movement. Their faces were completely red and sweating intensively._

_“CHLOE!!!”, both screamed out of surprise mixed up with shame. Then Goh begun shouting to Ash._

_“ASH! DIDN’T YOU TELL ME YOU’VE LOCKED THE DOOR WHEN THE DOCTOR LEFT?!”_

_The lightning-cheeks lad replied back with a stuttering voice:_

_“I-I DID!! I TURNED THE KEY THREE TIMES!!”_

_“WHAT KEY DID YOU USE?!”_

_“THAT ONE OVER THERE!!”, said the brown-eyed youngster as he pointed to one key at the desk._

_“THAT ONE IS FROM CERISE PARK!! I TOLD YOU TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE HANDLE SHAPE BECAUSE IT’S VERY SIMILAR WITH THE ONE OF OUR DORM!”_

. I gave a [very specific whistle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPCzDtsrfPQ) after spending some long seconds processing what we had just witnessed earlier. Pikachu snorted because of my reaction and started to have a laughter attack. Raboot turns his back while doing a facepalm and exhaling a loud sigh as he said “ _They can’t be serious…_ ”. Yamper just cackled on his spot. I couldn’t help but beginning to chuckle as well! Pikachu’s laughter was contagious!

Chloe wasn’t finding this funny at all. She had her face covered with a hand. She desperately tried to look for the door knob with the free arm.   
  
“JUST SAVE THAT CUDDLING FOR LATER, WILL YOU?! HAVE SOME DECENCY!”

She eventually, finds the door knob and continues to shout to the boys:

“I WANT YOU DOWNSTAIRS IN THREE MINUTES! DON’T SHOW UP AND I’LL BE MERCILESS WITH YOU TWO!!”

The boys stared to each other in panic as they frenetically went to look for their shoes on the dorm’s floor as Chloe was closing the door. We followed Chloe back to the kitchen, who was as upset as a wild Primeape. Pikachu, Yamper and I kept laughing low. I was so glad I appeared in the laboratory just in time, otherwise I would have missed this hilarious scene! This and the one I would witness next: the fun wasn’t over yet!

The boys took five minutes to appear. They were as red as the fur of a Darumaka, they had downcast eyes and they were silent the whole time as they tried to eat on their seats. Chloe was having her breakfast faced to the ashamed pairing. She looked to them with great judgment while she munched her toast with some aggressivity.

_“Seriously, boys?! What’s wrong with you today?!”_

_Chloe paused for a moment to drink her cup of orange juice. She then continued to talk with her inquisitive tone:_

“You’re fully healed from your arm and you don’t miss a chance to use it to hug Ash.”

Ash had cut the silence as soon as he heard that sentence with a clear intention to defend Goh:

“It was me who started.”

Chloe looked to the cap-wearing boy, willing to hear his explanation.

“When the doctor said that Goh was completely healed, I felt extremely happy! As soon as the doctor left, we changed our clothes to the normal ones to go downstairs have some breakfast. _But…_ ”

Ash blushed again, and poked the index fingertips to each other as he finished to explain while turning his head down and still looking to Chloe with pouty lips:

“… _I couldn’t resist but hugging Goh right away._ I wanted to let him know I was really happy for his recovery. Afterall, it was because of me his arm was in this state, I felt responsible for what happened in Mt. Ember. I had to help him to recover quick! So, I ensured Goh was following _everything_ he got prescribed to do…”

Chloe was getting calmer the more she heard Ash’s explanation. Goh was looking carefully to his loved one a little less embarrassed with a subtle smile. This gave him some courage to continue the Trainer’s justification:

“That’s when I asked Ash if he could lock the door. I was equally thrilled for the fact I could now move my arm the same way as I used to before. Ash _did help me_ in the recovery in these latest two weeks, especially in the suggested physiotherapy movements that I was prescribed to do step by step. He would be mad if I wasn’t doing them!”

Goh giggled on his last sentence alongside with a blush on his cheeks. Ash was looking to him, pretending to be serious when he heard about the physiotherapy fact. He then finished the explanation in a deep, soothing voice, looking a little sideways and getting progressively redder:

 _“…And I wanted to thank Ash in the best way I could think of at that moment. When I realized we were cuddling each other at the middle of the dorm, standing up just like that looking to each other._ ”

“I’ve also lost track of my surroundings too!”, chuckled loudly a blushing Ash that had an arm behind his head. “I really couldn’t hear anything besides Goh himself!”

“I see it now…”, reacted Chloe, now much calmer than a while before. “You two are _really_ joined at the hip.”

Everything seemed to be clear now for both her and us Pokémon. The girl had finished her orange juice and the lovebirds were crossing their eyes for a brief moment in a dreamy look. Noticing that, she crossed her arms and leaned closer to the boys with a slightly naughty expression.

“Though, you could always be more _discreet_ in your talks before sleeping. You know what I’m talking about…”

The boys yelped nervously after listening to the pigtailed girl’s call for attention. Goh then stuttered:

_“No! D-Don’t tell me that y-!!”_

_“If there’s a reason I dislike to spend nights in this institute it’s because I listen to your giggles of fluff kissing and cuddling and I can’t fall asleep that way! The walls are very thin!!”_

“ _Y-You heard us?!_ ”, asked Ash in nervousness.

Chloe had gotten up of her chair. Yamper had suddenly started to hop sideways as he wiggled frenetically his tail and stuck his tongue out. He commented to us:

“ _Oh!_ Oh! She’s going to do that!!”

“Doing _what_?”, I naively asked him.

I looked to Raboot, who had closed his eyes. Then to Pikachu, who was smiling to Chloe as he tightened his paws. These two seemed to know what was going to happen. And sweet Soda Pop, I wasn’t _really_ seeing it coming!

The green-eyed lass had moved a few steps away to a more open area of the kitchen. She picked up a nearby broom and started to move dramatically towards it, looking to the cleaning object as if it was other person. She bent her back towards the descending broom and replicated a very familiar look on her eyes. Her voice had also altered in tone to a lower, deep and soft pitch. Chloe then started to talk alone:

“ _Ash… You were so, so silly this afternoon!_ ”

Pikachu was clapping hard and Yamper was chuckling again. I couldn’t _believe_ in what I was seeing: a _performing_ Chloe!!! And the girl was talented because that was an accurate impression of Goh!! She didn’t even miss the detail of the pouting lip!

She then swapped the pose with the broom and opened her eyes widely. Once again other familiar look. Her voice pitch had changed again to a scratchier and nasal one.

_“Silly?! But Goh, I’m not silly!!”_

Chloe exchanged roles again and vocalized:

“ _You are silly. And I love you this way…_ ”

When I looked to Goh, his face was _completely_ covered with his hands. I felt a sudden temperature rise in the kitchen and you know that Fire-type Pokémon like me are sensitive towards this. A little more and I swear the smoke alarm would have activated and _sprinkled_ everyone with water. _Thank Arceus that didn’t happen!_ The heating source was from Goh’s face, steaming out of embarrassment. The boy had suddenly gotten up and raced outside the division. Chloe did a mischievous smirk towards the fleeing lad as she put the broom back to its place.

“Wh-Where did he go?...”, I asked the Pokémon around me.

“To the bathroom to wash his face, _for sure…_ ”, said Pikachu with a slight smirk.

“He does this every time his romantic side is exposed to public.”, neutrally explained Raboot.

“…So, you guys are telling me this _really happened_ tonight?! Chloe’s not making up?!”, I excitedly asked.

“I can confirm!”, laughed Pikachu with some awkwardness on his face as he scratched his nape.

“ _Wow…_ ”, I thought to myself. If the charcoal-coloured hair boy could hide into a hole I am pretty sure he would borrow himself to the same depths of an Excadrill’s tunnel! _It was hilarious to imagine it!!_

Chloe didn’t spare Ash from the mockery. She crossed her arms and told him:

“And Ash… Please let Goh sleep and don’t cover his face with kisses.”

Ash almost fell down of the chair after listening to that. Luckily for him his reflexes were quick enough to grab himself on the table’s edge to prevent that to happen! The boy blushed ferociously and let out a burst of laughter as he removed his cap and ruffled his hair on top. I _couldn’t_ stop laughing in these latest minutes because of how _adorable_ these boyfriends are! It was really worth it paying a visit to the Cerise Laboratory two weeks later and knowing that Goh had fully recovered from the Fire Punch blockage.

* * *

  
Moments after the kids were done with their breakfast, a computer started to play a ringtone. I recognized the sound. It corresponded to an incoming instant messaging webcam call.

“Chloe, can you pick it up for me? I’ll be there in a while!”, Professor Cerise asked out loud from distance in other division.

“I will!”, she replied back as she searched for the computer mouse and clicked in a button. A face appeared on the display; to my surprise one that I actually knew. It was my Trainer, and her voice expressed anxiety.

“ _Hello?_ Is this the Professor Cerise Laboratory?! Can you hear me well?!”

“Uh, yes! You’re calling to the right place! I understand you perfectly! Who are you?”

“I looked for this contact on the internet and I always fear I type badly. I’m glad this is the right place!! My name’s Hope!!! Are Ash and Goh around?!”

“ _Hang on_ , are you Hope?! Litten’s Trainer?!”

The boyfriends heard the conversation and approached the computer.

“Hey, it’s Hope! Hi, there!!”, happily greeted Ash to my Trainer.

“Hello, Hope! We’re here!”, also greeted Goh.

“You guys are there! Fantastic!!”, she said with some slight relief in her voice.

“Is something on the matter?”, asked the blue-coated boy.

“It is! Normally I would have contacted the Pokémon Center but then I reminded about you and how well you took care of my Litten while I was away! I just returned from the physiotherapy session and both Toxel and her have disappeared!! I thought you could help me out!”

“Hope, one of your Pokémon is here! Litten herself! I found her an hour ago in my dad’s library!”, Chloe informed her right away.

“Is she there?!”

 _Uh oh._ Her expression frowned the moment she realized I was in this place. She wasn’t _really_ happy looking. Her voice tone became severe.

“Litten?! Come to the desk!”

Everyone started to look to me. My ears and tail lowered down as a physical reaction to her threatening pitch.

“ _Now._ ”, she reinforced.

I gulped and slowly went closer to the computer’s desk. I was now side to Chloe who looked to the display right after.

“ _Litten._ _What have I asked you an hour ago?!_ ”

“I-I…”, I tried to meow, but Hope cut it right away in a higher tone.

“ _Do you realize what you’ve done?!_ You left Toxel _alone_ at home, _didn’t you?!_ The Pokémon’s a BABY!! YOU CAN’T LET HIM ALONE!!!”

“ _L-Litten, is this true?..._ ”, Chloe asked me, clearly disturbed with the information. I shyly nodded to confirm.

“I expected at least to see you two together but I feared the worst when… _uh, excuse me…_ what’s your name? I forgot to ask you because of my anxiety!”, regretted Hope as she did the question to Chloe.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I also didn’t present myself! I’m Chloe, my father’s the owner of this institute.”

“OK, thank you. As I was saying, _Litten._ I expected at least to see _you two together_ but I feared the worst when Chloe only talked about you! I can’t find Toxel anywhere and _it’s your fault!!_ ”

I was starting to feel really bad; I never saw Hope _so angry_ after me before. And I confess I wasn’t expecting that the Pokémon would leave the house by his own. _But I was wrong…_

“Goh, what’s a Toxel? I don’t think I know about this Pokémon.”, asked Ash to his lover.

“I was doing the same question to myself. Let me see…”

Goh removed his Rotom Phone out of his sweatshirt’s left pocket, tapped a few times and then vocalized out loud:

“Rotom. Show me data on Toxel.”

The device then dictated a text in high volume:

_“Toxel! The Baby Pokémon! Electric and Poison type! It manipulates the chemical makeup of its poison to produce electricity. The voltage is weak, but it can cause a tingling paralysis.”_

“ _Weak but I always need to grab out a Cheri Berry…_ ”, I commented to the other Pokémon.

“Litten, what you did isn’t really nice, you know?”, told me the disappointed Pikachu.

“There could be worse, _like being left behind by a human._ ”, added Raboot after looking to his own Trainer for a brief moment.

“You aren’t helping, Raboot.”, Pikachu said to him.

“Tell the truth, Pikachu. What’s worse?”, the fire rabbit confronted him.

Pikachu didn’t seem to be willing to respond to the polemic question. I was certain there was some piece of information out of my reach but I couldn’t ask anything anyway. The boys were looking to the phone and commenting about the purple Pokémon.

“It seems to be native from Galar region. _No wonder why the name wasn’t telling me a thing._ ”, noted Goh.

“That Pokémon was a gift from a cousin of mine that lives in Galar. He travelled from there in purpose to offer me his egg for my eleventh birthday! It means _a lot_ to me! _I don’t know_ what I can tell to my cousin if he asks me about Toxel!! My parents are also worried!”, explained my desperate Trainer.

“Hope, we’ll help you to find Toxel!”

“Thank you so much, Ash!! I knew I could count on you! I heard that you and Goh are very good in your Pokémon researching for the laboratory so I decided to call here first before to the Pokémon Center!”

“Is there anything we should know about your Toxel?”

“I’m very worried if anyone finds him and believes it’s a wild Pokémon because I didn’t use a Poké Ball on him yet!”

“You didn’t?!”, asked Ash and Goh in surprise.

“I- _I know_ , I know!! It was stupid from my side! I was so entertained taking care of him that I completely forgot such a _basic_ thing as claiming him as my Pokémon!”

“In this case you two should get out immediately and look for her Toxel. There are shady people out there and we never know what they could do to him!”, commented Chloe as she faced herself from the rotating chair to her friends.

“I agree. Let’s get out and start the search!”, said the lightning-cheeks boy as he looked to Goh.

“Right behind you!”, nodded back Goh.

“Pikachu, let’s go!”

“Raboot, you too!”

“ _Wait!_ ”

The group stopped nearby the exit door of the division, alarmed by Hope’s request of waiting. She then severely affirmed:

“Litten’s going with you.”

I was again the centre of attention. Hope continued to talk.

“Considering I _sadly_ can’t walk freely like you, if there’s anyone else that knows well my Toxel is Litten herself. She can help you identify the Pokémon, although I’m almost certain there must not exist many Toxel in Vermilion City.”

“Of course, she’ll definitely be very helpful. Right, Litten?”, noted Goh with a slight smile on his confident face.

“We need your help once again, in our team!”, added Ash with the same looks. “Will you help us all?”

I stared to the boys, then to the girls and finally to the Pokémon.

“We’ll sort this out if we work together as a team!”, said Pikachu to me with a determination spirit.

“If you have one chance to redeem Hope’s trust, this is it.”, Raboot added.

The Rabbit Pokémon was right. I didn’t want to lose her trust. So, I jumped away from the desk, stood in between the Pokémon, and I meowed to the researchers.

“I’ll help you!”

“ _Alright!_ We’ll sort this out!”, cheerfully expressed Ash out loud.

“We’re off now!”, said Goh to Chloe and Hope.

“Good luck, guys! Give me news as soon as you find out anything! I‘ll keep contact with Hope and update her about the search!”, the pigtailed girl assured.

“Go and _find_ Toxel!”, told us the supportive Yamper.

“We will!”, Pikachu responded as we all started to leave the building.

“Goh, where should we go first?”, questioned the energic youngster.

“I was checking the map and I think it would be reasonable to check Route 11. There are plenty of Pokémon there and that could attract Toxel’s attention. There’s also the advantage that our Pokémon are with us, they should be able to communicate in between them to ask for information.”

“Good idea, _onward to the park!_ ”, Ash sprinted with Pikachu to the left road.

“WAIT! WRONG WAY! It’s over here!!”, alerted an exalted Goh as he pointed to the opposite direction.

“ _Sorry,_ sorry! This way then!!”

Pikachu and his Trainer returned to us and continued the run towards the right direction. And I was right behind the four friends of mine. I wasn’t quite certain of what to say in the way, I knew that nobody had approved my attitude towards Toxel. Just like them, I was mostly interested in finding this Pokémon the soonest possible.

* * *

We soon had arrived to Route 11. One of my favourite napping spots as I previously referred, I highly recommend it if you suffer from insomnia. There’s a pack of resident Drowzee that noticed my presence and since my last meeting with the boys I have eventually learnt the reason of why they always hypnotized me. But I wasn’t here today to help with their feeding. Given the amount of times I was coming here, they recognized me right away upon sight. While the boys were searching in different spots of the grassy path, I decided to ask questions to the group of Psychic-type Pokémon.

“Hey, there!”

“ _Oh,_ Litten!”, said one of the Drowzee. “We don’t see you for a good while!”

“True, that. Things happened!”

Pikachu and Raboot approached us with curiosity.

“Do you know these Drowzee?”, asked the electric mouse.

“I do! They’re my earliest buddies since I moved to Kanto. Drowzee? These are my most recent friends: Pikachu and Raboot!”

“Nice to meet you!”, greeted the two Pokémon in choir.

“Welcome to our homeplace! A friend of Litten is our friend as well! Are you here for napping? _We’re a little hungry for tasty dreams…_ ”

“ _Uuh,_ actually _no…_ ”, I awkwardly chuckled. “We would like to ask you something. Have you seen a Toxel crawling around here?”

“A Toxel?”, asked one of the Drowzee. Everyone of his group were looking to each other in confusion.

“I can describe you the Pokémon! It’s a little smaller than me, it’s all purple and lilac coloured, it has got a long tail and four spikes on its skull. It always looks like it is grumpy and it has got a flicking white light on the forehead.”

The Hypnosis Pokémon pack hummed in sync as they crossed their arms. After some seconds of thought, one of them shook his head negatively.

“I’m sorry, but we don’t remember to see any Pokémon like that.”

“ _Bummer…_ This is going to be hard then…”, I commented in disappointment.

Raboot looked around and then asked the Drowzee group:

“Have you seen any _unusual_ activity? Any information could be useful.”

Other Drowzee noted to us:

“Now that you ask it, we haven’t been seeing Ekans around here lately. They like to show up every day. The more days that pass the less we’ve been spotting them.”

“Because of this there’s a _lot more_ Rattata appearing in this area.”, commented a third Drowzee.

Pikachu, Raboot and I looked to each other. We then looked back to the Psychic-type Pokémon.

“Thank you, anyway! We’ll keep searching!”, I said.

“You’re welcome, take care!”

The three of us left them behind and gathered in a triangle.

“ _Vanishing Ekans…_ ”, commented Pikachu, intrigued by this information.

“I think I remember seeing them in other times I’ve tried to nap here. They’re mostly interested in attacking Pokémon that are smaller than them like Rattata, Pidgey or Spearow.”

“If they disappeared, it makes sense why there are more of those kinds of Pokémon here.”, observed Raboot.

“Would they attack Toxel?”, asked Pikachu to us.

“ _I have no idea…_ ”, I replied with a sigh. “ _This is all my fault…_ ”

“Don’t fret! We’re just starting the search! I’m sure we’ll find out anything! Ash and Goh might figure out something too even though we can’t discuss to them about this information we’ve just learnt.”

“Pikachu is right.”, nodded the fire rabbit.

“Raboot? You came from Galar, didn’t you?”, I questioned him who reacted affirmatively with a head nod. “Have you ever seen a Toxel?”

“I think I might have only seen one _once_ back in the Wild Area. They aren’t common Pokémon. And they’re quite vulnerable as far as I can remember. I didn’t interact with it, though.”

“I actually wonder what’s the potential of that Pokémon. Have you thought about it?”

“Every Pokémon have a purpose, Litten! It doesn’t matter their capabilities!”, told me Pikachu with great optimism. Raboot didn’t seem to be happy with his electric friend’s point of view and coldly added:

“Not every human understands that, _unfortunately._ ”

“What’s wrong with _you_ today?...”, I asked the stoic Rabbit Pokémon with some perplexity.

“ _Nothing._ Let’s keep searching for Toxel.”

Raboot walked away from us with his paws still inside his fur. I looked intrigued to Pikachu questioned him.

“Did something that I don’t know happen?”

“There was a moment of tension in our last research to Hoenn, not a long time ago. Let’s say that Raboot and Goh didn’t fully sort out their differences.”, Pikachu explained with some sadness in his voice. “But I’m sure they’ll sort things out. Just give them time.”

“ _Oh…_ I _see_ what you mean.”

I began to understand what Raboot tried to mean back in the laboratory’s tense talk between him and Pikachu at a point. But I felt compassionate towards the boy of the sky-blue eyes. Whatever it happened in that distant region; I was certain that Goh didn’t do it with bad intentions. And I almost felt the same thing about Toxel. Except I didn’t really want to leave him behind _permanently_ …

“Ash, have you found anything?”

“ _Nothing…_ ”, the brown-eyed boy responded with some sadness. “And you?”

“No signs about Toxel either… I don’t think we can do much else around here. What I could suggest to check next would be some neighbourhood streets nearby Hope’s house and the plaza of the main Pokémon Center.”

Ash looked to us following Raboot without great enthusiasm on our faces. He noticed that we hadn’t found anything as well.

“We must keep looking!”

“Let’s head back to the Vermilion City and look in these coordinates!”

* * *

Minutes later, we were back to the marine city. We walked through plenty of streets of all kinds of sizes in the neighbourhood without much result. None of the few Pokémon we saw could give us any information as they didn’t see anything similar to Toxel. Only human presence. We later investigated the Pokémon Center plaza and the more conversations between us Pokémon to other species we had, the more discouraged we started to become. Not even Nurse Joy had anything in her computer, after the boys had inquired the passerby people without any new clues. They silently looked to each other, sharing the same negative feeling as us.

We had a small break in one of the parks of the city. Ash and Goh had found a good sitting spot to rest a little and to discuss about the search. They had lost some of the motivation.

“This is being much more difficult than I thought…”, vented out a discouraged Ash as he let his back touch the wooden seat.

“Finding a Pokémon as small as a Toxel is like trying to finding a _needle_ in a _haystack_ …”, Goh commented as he kept checking things on his phone. He then hummed in thought as he put a nealy closed hand in the front of his upper lip.

“What are you checking, Goh?”

“Habitat data.”

“ _Habitat data?_ But Toxel’s not from Kanto.”

“I know that, but I wanted to double-check something that went through my mind.”

Ash looked to Goh with curiosity and then he leaned closer to his soulmate to check better the contents of the Rotom Phone’s screen.

“These are the Pokémon that live in the areas that we had explored.”, Goh explained as he pointed and scrolled. “Now, tell me. Is there anything that calls up your attention?”

The blue-coated lad crossed his arms and frowned a little, thinking in the question. Some seconds later he exposed his suggestion:

“Is it the size of them?”

Goh shook his head negatively.

“ _I think I may be missing something…_ ”, Ash said as he scratched his temple.

“We didn’t see Poison-type Pokémon.”

The cap-wearing boy’s eyes opened more as soon as Goh commented the same detail we had acknowledged earlier thanks to the Drowzee pack. I noticed that a nearby old lady, who was feeding a flock of Pidgey, begun looking to us.

“ _Oh!_ You’re right, now that you mention it. We didn’t see any Ekans while we saw all the other Pokémon.”

“Toxel is also a Poison-type Pokémon. I’m probably overthinking as this could just be only a coincidence, but… _what if…_ ”

“… if there’s a _connection_?”, Ash concluded.

“Exactly.”

“Do you think there must be something attracting Poison-type Pokémon?”

“I can’t really tell you. Not even I know. Poison-type Pokémon are difficult to study. They are normally attracted by pollution but this fact alone isn’t enough. Pollution can manifest in different forms and…”

A grumbling sound cuts Goh’s reasoning. Everyone stared to the source: Ash’s stomach. The blue-eyed boy sighed as he gently smiled with some sweat on his forehead.

“ _…and I guess you’re hungry._ ”

“ _I-I’m sorry, Goh!_ ”, exclaimed an embarrassed Ash that placed his arms over his belly. “ _I didn’t mean to cut your explanation but-_ “

His boyfriend let out a cute laugh.

“ _I know,_ I know. No need to explain yourself! We spent a good while looking for Toxel so we could eat something now. We can continue our search afterwards.”

Ash got up in excitement.

“Great! Time to _recharge_ my energies! We’ll surely find Toxel right after!”

He then ran away in laughter to a distant road of the park, surprising everyone including Goh.

“Ash?!”

“The last one to arrive is a _Shuckle_!”

“H-HEY!!! THAT’S NOT GOING TO BE ME!!”, exclaimed an offended Goh who _definitely_ didn’t want to lose so he sprinted right after Ash.

I turned to the Pokémon who were surprised by the sudden departure of their Trainers. Pikachu commented with determination:

“ _I know who is going to win._ ”

“Is that _even_ something you can _bet_? Of course, it’s _Ash_.”, I opined.

“No.”

“Then _who_? I _wouldn’t_ bet in Goh.”, harshly stated Raboot.

“ _Me._ ”, chuckled Pikachu as he ran away from us.

“PIKACHU!!”, Raboot and I shouted in choir.

“That’s pretty _low_!”, shouted Raboot as he upsettingly pursued the electric mouse.

“ _Wait up!!_ ”, I yelled to both competitive Pokémon as I was the last one to leave the place.

 _Boy,_ we ran _quite a bit!_ I _don’t know_ what Ash _eats_ for breakfast but he’s a _walking powerplant_! It was difficult to keep up until we returned to the urban area of Vermilion City. We thought it was impossible to catch up Pikachu’s Trainer until he had suddenly stopped in the middle of a street. Goh hadn’t time to prevent a collision with his lover’s back. The same thing went for us Pokémon. It looked like a _train crash_!

The charcoal-haired boy shook his head and cleaned his sweatshirt, a little annoyed. He asked Ash the following:

“ _What was that for, Ash?!_ ”

Ash was smelling the air. He looked like a Growlithe as he did that with his eyes closed. We could only listen to his nose sniffing. Goh felt a little awkward with that.

“ _A-Ash?_ ”

“Such an _amazing_ scent…!”

The cap-wearing youngster started to walk fast towards the source of the sweet smell we were feeling at the moment. We could hear Goh sighing in awkwardness for the second time today.

“ _Not again…_ You did this back in Galar too…”

We followed Ash for a few meters. Forward, left, forward, right, left. Describing this sounds like Hope inserting a password in a retro videogame. We were now on a darker and closed alley and the smell was _extremely_ strong.

“We’re near!”, Ash happily commented.

“Do you think so?”, asked an unsecure Goh. “This doesn’t seem to be a place for a sna-“

Suddenly, a human figure appeared from the even narrower street that was perpendicular to the alley we were at, dragging Ash, Goh and all us three Pokémon inside with a cane. We screamed due to the scare. And I recognized the cane-wearing person! It was the _old lady_ of before!! A lot of things went through my head at that instant, but most importantly: _how_ in the _world_ did she get here so _quick_ and _before_ us?!

“ _W-what?!_ ”, shouted Goh.

“You don’t look like a _custard seller_!!”, shouted a startled Ash.

“ _I don’t._ ”, the old lady replied with a male voice.

We all stared to the mysterious figure in deep confusion. _Did we just hear a man talking?!_ Before we could ask anything, the old lady had placed the hand on her face. _And pulled it apart._ It turned out it _wasn’t_ an old lady after all! It was a _disguised man_!! A tall adult man, with a certain age, with a black short hair, a large front, thick eyebrows and wearing brown clothes, one of them being a big raincoat. Ash’s expression completely changed into an astonished one. He shouted out loud a name:

“LOOKER?!”

“ _Shhh!!_ ”, the man reacted as he placed a hand on front of Ash’s mouth.

“ _Do you know him?!_ ”, asked Goh in surprise.

“ _Don’t talk so loud! Nobody can know I’m here!_ ”

Ash was calmer and started to talk more normally once the mysterious human had removed his hand.

“It’s since a long time we saw each other!!”

“That’s true, Ash! Since _Unova_ , I remember! You were a great help. The same thing goes for Sinnoh!”, the man said with a smile of satisfaction.

The lightning-cheeks boy smiled to his boyfriend.

“Goh, this is Looker. He’s a member from the International Police! We‘ve met before in my journeys throughout Sinnoh and Unova!”, explained Ash as Looker showed his badge, amazing Goh.

“ _Whoa!_ That’s so cool!”

“Thank you, my youngster!”, thanked Looker as he saved his badge back. “Looker is my code name for my officer position. I can’t reveal my true name to anyone.”

“What are you doing in here in Vermilion City?”, naively asked Ash.

Looker looked sideways for a moment and then responded with a more serious face as he leaned closer to the children.

“ _Normally this should be confidential information but I am going to trust in you, Ash, considering how helpful you were in my previous investigations._ ”

We all looked sideways to see if any outsider could be listening but the coast was clear so we leaned closer to the officer to listen carefully what else he had to say.

“ _I got a contact from my superior in Alola, Nanu, to investigate a shady man that’s highly suspected to have settled down a secret headquarter in Kanto._ ”

My jaw dropped as soon as I heard the name. _Nanu?!_ I _battled_ this man’s Pokémon in the Island Challenge that Hope had concluded!! I had _no idea_ he was working for the police!!!

“ _Nanu?!_ Nanu’s your superior?!”, exclaimed Ash. He was equally as surprised as me, but Ash was quickly hushed by Looker. The officer nodded in affirmation and continued to explain.

“ _He sent me top secret information concerning an investigation we’re doing to this man here._ ”

Looker removed a photograph from his raincoat’s pocket and it showed to the boys. I felt the will to give a burst of laughter. Pikachu was doing a massive effort on his face to not laugh, I could tell from the exaggerated smile of his. Raboot, _well…_ I couldn’t really tell as the mouth was hidden behind the fur collar. But he seemed _disturbed._ Goh let escape a small snort before he could cover his mouth with his hands. Ash looked to the photo with some perplexity and naively asked the police officer:

“ _Is the suspect a Croagunk?_ ”

“ _One could think of that but that’s actually a dangerous man from Sinnoh who travels in between regions to capture Poison-type Pokémon to extract their venoms and sell them illegally in the black market. And if the Pokémon in question is valuable, he might raise it with a Rare Candy diet to force up evolution and sell it for millions of Pokédollars._ ”

Goh gasped as soon as he heard the explanation.

“ _Poison-type Pokémon?!_ Don’t tell me that h-!”

“ _I heard your conversation in the park. I immediately recognized Ash as soon as I heard him talking. I had to talk with you, outside of unwanted looks._ ”

“Wait, so the smell was coming from you?”, asked Ash.

Looker removed an apple pie from his pocket, _still warm!_ From the other one, he showed an electric portable fan. The officer winked to the boy.

“ _You were pretty easy to lure to me!_ ”

“ _Well,_ Ash has got _sharp instincts_ when it comes about food…”, noted Goh with some constraint.

“ _Here, you can eat it._ ”, said Looker as he offered him the snack.

“Really?! Thank you so much!!”, the blue-coated lad said as he started to eat frenetically. His attitude disturbed Goh.

“ _A-Ash! Your manners!!_ ”

“ _I have a second apple pie. Take it, Goh! These were given to me for free for lunch, but I wasn’t going to eat them anyway._ ”

“ _Oh?_ T-Thank you, Officer Looker…”, shyly accepted Goh as he gave a small bite and flavoured the custard.

The officer was nice enough to have offered a Sitrus Berry to each of us Pokémon right after. It was really nice from him, at least we could also have a snack along with the boyfriends. He then asked a question to them:

“ _I heard you talking about a missing Toxel. Is that correct?_ ”

“Yes! A friend of ours has lost her Toxel. She thinks her Pokémon might have left by his own!”, confirmed Ash.

“We’re looking for him for hours and no luck so far.”, finished Goh.

“ _Toxel aren’t common in Galar and they’re an exotic species in Kanto. Being a baby Pokémon with a limited locomotion, he couldn’t go very far. I’m sorry to say this but I highly suspect that this thief from the photo might have seen Toxel in the outside and kidnapped him._ ”

We all gasped after listening to the last words of the police officer. This was _worse_ than what we thought. And I was feeling even more frustrated than before. My ears lowered down as a reflection of my increasing anxiety.

“ _It’s just an hypothesis. Galarian Pokémon are very valuable in the Kantonian black market. He’ll probably sell Toxel if he has held him captive.”,_ added Looker. _“Boys, I’ve also heard you commenting earlier that you didn’t see Ekans in Route 11. I’m planning to go there to have a look._ ”

The facial expression of the children became serious one they heard his will of going to investigate that grassy path.

“Looker! Could we go with you to Route 11?”

“We could return there and see if we find any clue we might have missed!”

“I’ll open an exception and accept your request. We’re heading there right away.”

* * *

We went in Looker’s fancy vehicle back to Route 11 once the boys finished to eat their apple pies. The adult man looked well around with his magnifying glass, in search of something.

“All Pokémon described in the habitat database are here… except Ekans.”, commented Goh as he was using again his Rotom Phone.

“They were taken away.”, assured Looker after stopping in a spot and pointing out some visible marks in the soil. “Those correspond to an Ekans body. _And there was a fight._ ”

The children looked carefully to the clue as the officer was taking pictures with a camera.

“There’s _no doubt_ about it.”, confirmed Goh.

Raboot had decided to climb to a higher floor and something had caught his attention. He turned to us and shouted out loud:

“Pikachu! Litten! You should come up and see _that_!”

“See what?”, asked Pikachu in curiosity as he climbed out closer to the Rabbit Pokémon. I did the same. We then exclaimed after seeing what he was pointing at.

“Hey! _Nice eyes_ , Raboot! How come we’ve missed that earlier? We should call everyone’s attention to observe that!”

We Pokémon then called up for the human attention.

“What is it, Pikachu?”, asked Ash who joined us to the same floor level. “Oh!!”, he interjected. “Goh! Looker! The Pokémon have found a warehouse over there!”

“A warehouse?”, asked Looker who also climbed up along with Goh.

The police officer took off some compact binoculars and carefully looked to the building with for some seconds. He commented out loud:

“It seems to be abandoned. _Rust everywhere and unlevelled walls. Cracked windows._ ”

Looker then removed the binoculars and said:

“We should see what’s inside.”

The children nodded in agreement. Pikachu, Raboot and I did the same.

The building was really in _bad_ condition, with its state of conservation matching what the officer had described before. It was dark inside the main hall, which we only managed to enter thanks to Raboot’s powerful Double Kick. Looker had taken out a flashlight from his pocket and started to point everywhere. It was all _dirty and messy_. Judging by the looks, it must have been abandoned for years. We could only listen to our steps and breathing.

“ _Ouch! My foot!_ ”, whispered Goh.

“ _Sorry,_ sorry! I didn’t see it.”, apologized Ash.

“ _Be careful with your step, we never know what it could exist in here._ ”, alerted Looker.

These sounds of ours were complemented with an ambiguous one coming from other division of the warehouse. _It made us all uncomfortable._ We were _convinced_ this building was _abandoned._

“ _Pi-Pikachu? R-Raboot?_ You _heard_ the same sound as me, _didn’t you_?!”

“It sounded like a _splatting_ …”, nervously commented Pikachu.

“It did but… _no one lives here, right?_ ”, added Raboot.

“ _This reminds me of those movies where someone appears out of nowhere and makes bad things to the victims…_ ”, I said.

“ _What kind of movies are you watching?!_ ”, asked an even more nervous Raboot after listening to my sentence.

“ _I don’t like this…_ ”, told Ash to everyone. He was shaking tremendously.

“C-Could just be the wind, _you know?..._ ”, observed Goh with an insecure voice tone.

“ _Stay behind me, kids._ ”, comforted Looker who was a little more tense after listening to the same sounds as everyone else heard. “ _If I see anything dangerous, I tell you to run and you leave immediately this warehouse._ ”

Step by step we slowly and stealthy approached the sound source. My heartbeat rate increased the closer we were to that large metallic gate. Looker removed a cutting nipper to break a chained locker that prevented the overture of the division where the sound was coming from. I could see Raboot’s legs shaking even though he tried to disguise hard his fear for what _could_ be behind _that gate_. Pikachu was quite nervous and showing it well. My tail had increased in volume and my whiskers were pointing forward. Ash and Goh were giving hands and tightening them progressively. Both were _very_ tense.

Looker gave a vigorous push to both doors which have easily opened. He gave a few steps forward and we stood on the same place. We got scared because we saw a blurred window frame, with intact glasses, all stained with red blots, dripping all over the floor. Ash and Goh instantly hugged each other tightly as they dropped themselves onto the floor in knees and were whimpering in fear with the image. Raboot had moved behind Goh. Pikachu did the same thing with Ash. I kept frozen on the same place; my paws couldn’t move with that _horrible_ image.

“Do _not_ move a _single_ millimetre!”, ordered out loud a threatening Looker.

That’s when he moved a little sideways and we simply saw a group of Pokémon composed by two Smeargle, a Mankey, a Jigglypuff and a Sandshrew, all with their hands and paws holding up red-coloured berries. One Smeargle was frozen in a pose of who was about to throw one to the window. Due to Looker’s warning, everyone dropped the berries to the floor and lifted their arms up in nervousness.

 _Phew!!_ Afterall we were all seeing things in a different context, _what a scare!!!_ I let myself slide on the floor in relief. For a moment I thought we were witnessing a scene of a _really nasty crime_! Raboot had fainted. Me and Pikachu gasped out of surprise and had to shake him up to return to his senses. It was quick to make him recover conscience, although he blushed and commented an unconvincing “ _I wasn’t scared._ ”. The boys gave out a _huge_ relief sigh as well once they realized they misinterpreted those blots. Their cheeks became the same colour as the one stained on the window after realizing how tightly they were hugging each other on the floor.

“I’m Looker, from the International Police.”, he said it out loud to the Pokémon as he showed his badge for a moment. “I need to ask you some questions.”

The warehouse Pokémon looked to the tall man in wonder. He then showed the suspect’s photo to each of them.

“Have you happened to see this man before?”

I could listen to the Pokémon babbling different points of view. One of them caught my attention in particular.

“I have the feeling I saw his face yesterday night.”, commented one of the Smeargle twins.

“You did?!”, I interjected to him.

The three humans looked to me in surprise. Looker realized I was communicating with the group so he stood back and observed us. Pikachu and Raboot joined me.

“Yes, I’m _almost_ sure. The man had his face partially covered with a _scarf_ but the eyes were _very similar_ to the ones of the photograph!”, the Painter Pokémon continued to explain.

“Was it during our berry fight game?”, asked Sandshrew to his friend.

“It was _exactly_ at that moment! When I was out of the play after Jigglypuff had splatted me with a Razz Berry, I decided to sit down on one of the empty oil tanks and look through one of the window cracks. And that’s when I saw a _bulky human man_ with _Croagunk eyes_ carrying a _big box_ with him into a _motorbike_. I couldn’t see much because it was very dark. But I believe I heard a muffed _sound_ coming from the inside. It was similar to a _hissing_ but I’m not certain. Like a _cry for help. Several_ cries for help!”

“So, there’s _no doubt about it_!”, exclaimed Raboot, impressed with the valuable information that Smeargle had shared to all of us.

“That could explain the missing Ekans from this route!”, added Pikachu.

“If _only_ I could speak human language or if they could _understand us_ …”, I vented out in anxiety as I moved from a side to other, trying to think for a solution in how to explain this to Looker, Ash and Goh.

“There are things I could try to explain through gestures but some are difficult to do…”, regretted Pikachu.

“ _Wait,_ I just thought in _one thing_!!”

“What is it, Litten? Tell us!”, said Raboot.

I looked to the Smeargle twins.

“You two can _draw_ , right?! Afterall you are well known throughout Pokémon and humans that your species is skilful enough to _express_ yourselves through _drawing_. Would you manage to use your _paint_ to draw pictograms for the humans that are with us to fully understand what you had just told us right now?!”

Raboot and Pikachu gasped after listening to my request. They nodded in agreement and also looked to the Pokémon pair.

“Litten has got a good point! That could be a _great help_!”, said a supportive Pikachu.

“I agree.”, added Raboot.

“Well, brother. I wasn’t aware of that scene you had just told us but I can help you out with the sequential drawing.”

“That would be much quicker that way! I draw the odd number frames, and you draw the even number ones.”

And so, we stood back, including the Pokémon friends of theirs to give enough space to the artistic duo of Smeargle. The humans were intrigued with our babbling that they couldn’t understand. Soon, their expressions would change into amazement. A pictorial description of the happening was slowly emerging in the floor, complemented with some mashed Razz Berries for extra details. Everything was _clear_ to them now. Looker took photographs as he told out loud “ _Amazing._ This is _valuable_ information!”. Even Goh had taken an opportunity to record the painting process of the Smeargle for documental purposes. “ _This is incredible!..._ ”, he wowed in marvel.

“Those Ekans were _really_ taken away…”, Ash commented with some frustration.

“Now the question is _where_ did that man _go_.”, noted Looker as he saved his camera and wrote down some notes in a tablet. He can’t be very far. Our investigation points out he must have _very likely_ settled down somewhere in Vermilion City or in the nearby outskirts.”

“So, he could be _anywhere_. Exploring those Pokémon…”, said Goh with a concerned voice.

A ringtone is heard from the raincoat of the police officer. He picked it up.

“Officer Looker here. _Yes._ In twenty minutes? _I see._ No, I am actually nearby. I can reach there in time. It’s also a good timing because I have got new clues that could lead us closer to our suspect. Officer Looker out.”

The man turned to the children.

“I just got a phone call from some of my partners in Vermilion. I fear that it is a goodbye for now, Ash and Goh. We’re meeting up in a secret location and I can’t bring anyone with me. I suggest you keep looking for Toxel, maybe with luck the Pokémon was not kidnapped.”

“We won’t give up!”, ensured Ash to the police officer.

“We’ll continue our search on our own.”, reinforced Goh.

“Thank you for your comprehension. I advise you to be careful.”

We got out of the warehouse and saw Looker turning on the engine of his motorbike and disappearing in the layer of dust that the tires had lifted upon passage on the dry soil. Our group was on its own once again. Ash turned to Goh and gave a suggestion:

“Goh, I was thinking in something. What if we go search Route 6? We’ve been too focused in the city itself, although we’ve explored this same route we are at and found some clues. I thought we could be lucky in there as well.”

Goh stared to Ash for two seconds and he suddenly stole a _kiss_ from his boyfriend’s lips, making his soulmate _blush_ due to the surprise and _blinking_ his eyes _very quickly_. The charcoal-haired lad closed his eyes while giving a very sweet smile and told him:

“You surely think better when you _aren’t_ hungry! I wasn’t really thinking about it! That’s a _great idea_ , Ash!”

“ _O-Oh!_ Thanks! It wasn’t _anything special_ what I just said, though!”, chuckled Ash as he blushed furiously.

“We’re heading there!”

“Got it!”

* * *

Us five had crossed Vermilion City from a point to another. According to Rotom Phone’s geolocation, Route 6 was located north of the urban area. It took a _good while_ to reach it by foot. Once in there, we had scattered ourselves seeking for possible clues. It was _incredibly_ calm for a wild Pokémon area. No Oddish, no Bellsprout. Not even a _single_ Pidgey, Mankey, or Psyduck. It contradicted the Rotom Phone’s habitat data that assured that all these Pokémon lived here in a fair number.

“Where’s everybody?”, asked Pikachu.

“You two know Kanto better than I do.”, commented Raboot from afar. “I wouldn’t be able to tell if it’s _normal_ being _this calm_ around here.”

“Last time we’ve travelled here I can ensure you it was _full_ of Pokémon.”, continued Pikachu.

“Before Hope’s accident we used to stroll around here and just like Pikachu said, it was crowded. Something _must_ be _going on_.”, I wondered.

“ _That’s weird._ Because from what I understood earlier, the Sinnoh thief is only interested in Poison-type Pokémon. There wouldn’t be any reason to capture everyone living here who doesn’t share that typology.”, observed Raboot.

“True that…”, I said.

The boys were away from us and from themselves, looking into different spots and directions: trees, rocks, holes in the ground, in the lake shore… No signs of life nor the _so wanted_ additional clues for the case. A shiny element had called Ash’s attention from afar. He walked towards that light source, partially hidden behind a bush. The blue-coated boy got up quickly to return to us and shouted as he raced:

“Goh! I found an open Pokémon cage over there! There is food inside a-“

His discovery description was cut abruptly after stepping a hidden trap in the tall grass and getting trapped inside a large rope net that ascended to a treetop. The boy cried for help and we all gasped out loud after seeing that.

“ASH!!”, nervously shouted Goh as he tried to reach the net by jumping, grabbing it in the lower side. The blue-eyed boy pulled one of the thick strings with all his strength but nothing seemed to work.

“ _He needs help!_ ”, Raboot exclaimed as he went close to him. The Rabbit Pokémon jumped and tried to bite the rope, but it was too hard for his teeth. “It doesn’t work!”

“I don’t know _any move_ that could _help_ Ash out!”, I regretted in frustration.

“I’ll use my Iron Tail!”, said Pikachu with determination.

Before Pikachu could prepare himself for the Steel-type damaging move, a grave voice started to vocalize.

“ _Well, well, well… What do we have here?_ ”

We all looked back and to our shock it was the _shady Croagunk-eyed man_ that Looker had been _searching_ for. He cackled by realizing our tense expressions on our faces.

“Two _children_ , huh? Kids of your age shouldn’t _wander around alone, you know… Bad things could happen…_ ”

“Goh!! _Run away!!_ Call for help!!!”, shouted Ash in nervousness.

“ _Never!!_ I’m facing this man!!! I’m _not_ leaving you _alone_ here, _Ash_!!”, negated Goh as went back to the floor and glared to the suspect man. Raboot stood front of his Trainer without removing the eyes from the _bulky_ individual, who took out a Nest Ball from his pocket.

“How _foolish_ from you, do you think this is a game? _Kids, nowadays_!! You’ve _seen_ me and activated one of my _traps_ and I _can’t_ let you _spread the sighting experience_. _Tangrowth_ , COME OUT!”

A flash of light revealed the quoted Pokémon, who cried out of his lungs as he fiercely exhibited his large body and long arms.

“Pikachu, protect Ash!! Raboot and I will handle this Tangrowth!”, I shouted as I sided with the Rabbit Pokémon.

“Be careful, you two!”, he reacted as he went closer to his trapped Trainer.

“Thanks for helping us out, Litten!”, thanked Goh without removing his eyes from the thief.

“I’m not scared of _fire-spitters like you_!”, warned a menacing Tangrowth who didn’t show any insecurity as he said it.

“Raboot! Use Ember! Litten! Use Flamethrower!”, commanded Goh to both of us.

Raboot picked up a nearby rock and in-between feet dribbling he heated up the mineral and kicked it with might at the same time I exhaled a strong tongue of fire. But the Grass-Pokémon had rolled to the side, avoiding the damage. We all clenched our teeth in frustration for having missed the hit.

“He avoided!!”, vented Raboot. Tangrowth chuckled mischievously as he heard that.

“ _Only that, my dears?_ ”

“This is _child’s play_.”, smirked the Croagunk-eyed man. “Power Whip! NOW!”

The blue-bodied Pokémon dug _aggressively_ his arms onto the ground and some _huge_ vines appeared in different spots in an eye-blink, tangling both of us up and slamming our bodies back and forth. We cried in pain. Pikachu, Ash and Goh were panicking with the sight, calling out our names. Seconds later, we were freed from those vines and did a _great_ effort to get up. Tangrowth’s arms were back to normal.

“ _W-What a power!!!_ ”, I stuttered in tiredness, shaking my legs.

“ _He’s stronger than what I th-thought!_ I’m angrier than before now!!”

“Raboot! Litten! Can you still battle?!”, asked Goh in great worry. We nodded, although we were _really hurt_ by that _violent_ Grass-type move.

“They‘re weakened, Tangrowth! _Finish this out!_ USE ANCIENT POWER!!”

And our pupils shrunk in anxiety. Some large rocks were emerging from the floor and orbiting around the Vine Pokémon’s pink fingertips. We had _no idea_ what do but Goh had a sudden plan.

“RABOOT! LITTEN! QUICK! DEFEND YOURSELVES WITH YOUR DOUBLE KICKS!!”

We barely had time to think so we leaped to counter the move the way we were told to. Debris scattered around and we were projected backwards due to the blow. _And we couldn’t get up._ The move was _too strong_ for us to be able to defend ourselves. I _almost_ lost conscience. Raboot was nearly fainting _completely_ as well.

“NOOO! GUYS!!”, the sweatshirt boy yelled in despair.

“LITTEN! RABOOT!”, shouted Ash in the same tone.

“AAH!” screamed Pikachu in rage as I could see his cheeks sparking out electricity. “AASH! PLEASE LET ME FIGHT TANGROWTH!!”

His Trainer seemed to have understood what his Pokémon had requested. And so he commanded:

“Pikachu!! Use Quick Attack!!”

My friend managed to hit right on the centre but the two-meter-tall Pokémon didn’t seem to be affected by it. Ash gasped out of shock along with Goh. The thief just _laughed_ at our misery.

“You’re surely _stubborn_ children! I’m toying you around for _too long_. Tangrowth! CONSTRICT!!”

Pikachu tried to run away but not _even_ the incredible _agility_ of this Pokémon could match the one of this trained Tangrowth. His arm wrapped itself entirely in the Electric-type Pokémon and he shouted with the move’s damage. It was making me _extremely upset_ because I couldn’t get up to help him out. Even Raboot wasn’t able to get out from the floor. “PIKACHU!!”, we both shouted in pain.

“PIKACHU, NO!! LET HIM GO! DON’T HURT HIM!!”, shouted Ash in panic.

“A-Ash…”, Pikachu mumbled before he fainted and got dropped on the floor without conscience.

“YOU’RE A MONSTER!! THAT’S NOT HOW YOU BATTLE!!”, angrily yelled Ash to the offensive Trainer as he reattempted to remove the net.

“THIS IS MY WAY AND IT ISN’T A NOISY KID LIKE YOU TELLING ME THE OPPOSITE!”

While the thief was distracted with Ash, Goh had picked up his phone in a rush and tried to call someone. “ _Please pick up!_ Pick up!!”, I heard him muttering in stress.

“YOU THERE! STOP IT! TANGROWTH! POWER WHIP TO HOLD THAT KID!”

Tangrowth obeyed and before someone could pick up the phone call, a vine wrapped up around Goh and made the device fall to the floor. He was stuck and couldn’t move.

“GOOH!!”, shouted Ash as he stretched his arm out of the net.

“ _Finish_ with a Sleep Powder!”, commanded Tangrowth’s Trainer.

Sparkling dust was expelled out of his wavy body. My sight became blurry and I could only hear a fading sound of the children desperately shouting out for each’s other’s names. _I passed out._

* * *

  
When I’ve opened my eyes, I took a few minutes to see my surroundings with clearness. I had no idea how much time passed. The room was _dark_ and _cold_. It smelled _a lot_ like _moisture_. I looked around and I’ve noticed that I was _trapped_ inside a metal bar cage. Raboot, Pikachu, Ash and Goh were in separate ones. The kids hadn’t their backpacks with them. I could observe that they were away, in a tall stack of empty oil containers. Everyone was asleep. I soon reminded that we passed out because of a Sleep Powder. At least the boys were not wounded. I had to find a way to get out of the cramped cage. A Flamethrower could be dangerous because of the tiny size. I hadn’t enough space for a Double Kick either. So, I went for the _best option_ available: Headbutt. The damage was very minor in the bars. However, the cage had _moved_ forward. And that made me closer to the ground level as us Pokémon were trapped in a tall shelf. I retried the move. _Again, again and again._ A last time and I had reached the edge of the surface, making my cage fall and damage it more. _Good, there was a fissure!_ I did a sixth Headbutt and I broke two bars. It gave me a sufficiently wide hole to fit myself and _get out_ in one piece. _I was freed!_ Great thing that thief was unaware of my ability to use this move, otherwise he could have placed us in other area of this strange place.

Nobody seemed to be around. The room had a fair space, similar to a medium-sized open-space storage, with a large door. It had the characteristics of a warehouse but not like the one we’ve explored in Route 11. I took the opportunity of the lack of surveillance to look for the boys’ belongings in the stored backpacks at the place I’ve seen earlier. Everything seemed to be there _except_ for the Rotom Phones. _Tough luck_ , my initial plan was to find them and hand over to the kids to call for help… _However_ , there was a “Plan B”: Ash’s Poké Balls were hidden inside… _a pair of socks?_ What a _strange_ place to store them, maybe this is why they _weren’t confiscated_. The guy didn’t search there! I removed _one by one_ and kicked the Poké Balls high towards the floor. All of them opened, revealing a confused Dragonite, Gengar and Riolu.

“What’s this place?”, wondered Dragonite as he looked around.

“Why’s Ash trapped in a cage?!”, asked Gengar in surprise.

“And Goh too!”, added Riolu.

“ _Pssst! Over here!_ ” I whispered to everyone.

The three Pokémon looked towards my direction and their faces mirrored a mixture of feelings. Excitement to see me again, but at the same time worried for the fact that their Trainer and his lover were trapped in distant cages.

“A _lot_ of things happened; we were looking for my Trainer’s Baby Pokémon because he went missing for my fault! _And-and I- We- We_ were _captured_ by a human that is _hunting_ Poison-type Pokémon for _illegal profit_!!”

“ _Oh no!_ ”, exclaimed Dragonite as he placed the paws in front of his snout in worry.

“Where’s Pikachu and Raboot?”, asked Riolu immediately.

“Over there!”, I pointed. “We should free them _first_ , like this in case someone finds us out we are in greater number to defend the children!”

“Good plan.”, agreed Riolu.

“I’ll pick their cages and bring them here.”, said Dragonite.

The Dragon Pokémon flied to their shelf and safely brought Pikachu and Raboot’s cages closer to Gengar and Riolu.

“Now, _how_ to break them?”, inquired Gengar.

“I’m worried in harming them if I use the Flamethrower.”, I said as I went back to the floor. “I’m _trying_ to think.”

“Hang on, _I know_! Let me try this!”

Gengar had lifted his arm and prepared an Ice Punch. Then he hit in one bar, freezing it completely. Riolu gave a _good_ push with the back of his palm. The bar disintegrated.

“ _Excellent!_ ”, I exclaimed. “Repeat those actions for the other bars until we can free Raboot and Pikachu!”

The two Pokémon nodded in affirmation and did exactly what I’ve asked. Dragonite managed to pull the sleeping friends out from the metal structure. He gave a _huge_ hug to _both_ of them, wakening them up in surprise.

“NOT CONSTRICT AGAIN!!”, shouted Pikachu.

“WE’RE BEING ATTA- _Wait!_ Dragonite?!”, realized Raboot.

“You’re both _fine_! I’m so _glad_!”, the dragon reacted as he placed them on the ground.

“Where’s Tangrowth?!”, asked Pikachu in stress as he was on four looking around.

“Guys, nobody seems to be around in this room!”, I tried to tranquilize my yellow friend.

“Litten! How do you feel?!”, questioned Raboot in worry.

“My body still hurts a little because of the battle of before but I’m fine in general, thanks for asking! And you?”

“Same thing!”

We both looked to Pikachu, who understood we were also worried about him.

“Likewise!”, he responded.

Now the attentions turned to the boys. We could reattempt the same process of before but I had noticed the bars were thicker than ours, it could be a problem. And the constant Ice Punches had tired Gengar out a little. Dragonite decided to take a shot by using his arm muscles to open a hole by separating the bars. _Success!_ It worked for both cages. The creaking sounds had awakened the kids, who immediately looked around wondering where were they.

“ _What the…_ Why am I inside a cage?!”, asked the blue-coated boy.

“ _M-me too!!_ And- Your Pokémon are all _out_!”, observed the sweatshirt lad.

Both kids got out from the deformed enclosures and expressed us a _warming_ gratitude towards our collaboration for helping them out. They were wondering at the same time how did we get out and freed ourselves. All Pokémon looked to me, making me feel very shy. The boyfriends smiled.

“No surprise, you’re a _very smart_ Litten!”, complimented Goh.

“Goh is right, _thank you so much_ for helping everyone out!”, added Ash. I smiled back even though I was _extremely flustered_ with the compliments.

“Where are our bags?”, asked the youngster with the prominent eyelashes. I pointed to their location and Dragonite had picked them up for the boys to not have to climb the dangerous stack. “Thank you!”, Goh and Ash said.

The children searched inside and they confirmed what I did before: their phones were missing.

“ _This is bad…_ I can’t find my phone.”, regretted Goh.

“ _Me neither!_ ”, confirmed Ash.

“The suspect must have hidden them away.”

“Who were you calling before?”

“To Chloe. But the call wasn’t picked up before Tangrowth caught me. I hope she understands that I was calling for help…”

“I should have exchanged the phone number with Looker, I really feel bad for not having done that _before he left_!”

“It was also my fault for not having done the same thing. We can’t think about it now. Let’s _get out of here_ first.”

The boys approached the door. Goh had carefully placed an ear on it to see if any noise could be heard. But there was silence.

“ _Wait, guys._ I think it would be better going to see what’s on the other side! I can pass through walls and hide in the shadows!”, Gengar tried to explain to the kids. Goh seemed to understand the point and suggested the same thing to Ash. His Trainer nodded in agreement.

“Good idea, Gengar! Please check what’s on the other side and confirm us if it’s safe to open this door!”

The ghost Pokémon disappeared in a corner of a wall. We waited two minutes. Upon return, he did a thumbs up. “It’s _safe_!”, he said.

“ _Great_ , let’s get out!”, told Ash to each one of us.

The division was definitely _larger_ , but it was _full_ of boxes and other strange objects. Some carried odd smells, sort of acid. I was listening to a muffled noise at a certain point. _Someone was talking._ I ran quickly towards the sound source by climbing some surfaces and looking through a hole from an old brick wall. _I was shocked._ There were a lot, _but really a lot_ , of Poison-type Pokémon _chained up on the floor_. Ekans, Koffing, Bellsprout, Oddish, Grimer… Almost _all_ Kanto Pokémon that shared a Poison-type were being held captive here. I also saw few Skorupi, Stunky and Croagunk that were on a _deplorable_ state. The suspect man that we’ve battled earlier was there. One Nidorino was being _whipped_ by that _monster_ , forcing him to use a Poison Sting to a tank. The poor Pokémon was screeching in suffering. Then I heard a familiar voice: “I’m hungry!” and my heart stopped. It was Toxel. _He was alright!!_ But he was also chained up like the others.

The delinquent turned to him while grumbling in annoyance. He picked up a sac full of things wrapped up in a blue foil.

“You’re _really annoying, Toxel!_ ”, he vented out while unwrapping one of the sweets. “If you weren’t so _valuable_ you would be in the place of that Nidorino over there and _learn_ to _respect_ to keep your mouth _shut_!”.

A candy was thrown to Toxel’s mouth, who happily ate it. The suspect man added:

“ _I’m running out of stock thanks to your voracious appetite._ At any point I won’t have any more Rare Candies to feed this _whole crowd_!”

“ _Litten?... Litten?_ ”, asked twice Raboot.

“ _What did you see?_ ”, inquired Pikachu.

I turned to my friends and I replied:

“ _I found Toxel! And all the captured Pokémon!!_ ”

The Pokémon group gasped, exclaiming several things. The boys looked to us in intrigue.

“Litten?! Did you find something?!”, anxiously asked Ash as he tried to climb and reach me out. I had stood a little back to give him space to watch through the small hole. He whispered in shock afterwards: “ _She surely did!!_ Toxel is here!! And _dozens_ of different Pokémon! All Poison-type!”

“So, he’s _hidden here_! These must be his headquarters!”, observed Goh in tension.

Ash had returned to the floor; we could see he was trying to find a way to free all those chained Pokémon. The boy _hated_ to see _any_ Pokémon being mistreated like _objects_. The door that could lead to that division was locked down. But it was a risk to force an entrance. Tangrowth could return and we had trouble to face him before.

“ _Dragonite, use Dragon Dance.”,_ harshly muttered Ash while glaring to the door.

“Eh?!”, exclaimed Goh out of surprise with such a sudden command. “What are you going to do, Ash?!”

The friendly looking dragon lifted his eyes in wonder but he obeyed and performed the move. He emitted some extra power out of his body.

“Dragon Claw on that door! FULL POWER!”, vigorously pointed out Ash to it.

“ASH!!”, screamed his boyfriend.

“Dragon Claw incoming!!!!!”, exclaimed Dragonite who lifted his chest to aim well the charging move and _slashed_ the door surface with _all his strength_. The passage got clear, with the metallic surface crashing on the further wall and making a really loud clanking noise upon fall. All the tortured Pokémon, plus Toxel and the delinquent looked to us all once the dust had settled down.

“ _What?!_ How DID YOU GET OUT?!”

“ _Big sister!!_ ”, exclaimed Toxel in joy upon seeing me.

“Pikachu!! USE IRON TAIL ON THAT NIDORINO’S CHAIN!”

“RIGHT!”, interjected a determined Pikachu who had performed the move immediately and saved the Nidorino. The Pokémon ran away with all his might.  
  
“ _What are you doing?!_ ”, shouted the scandalized man.

“RABOOT! DOUBLE KICK ON THE CHAINS OF THE GROUP OF ODDISH!”, commanded Goh right after, encouraged by Ash’s determination to save everyone out.

“RUN AWAY, POKÉMON!”, he exclaimed as he was breaking one chain at a time. More Pokémon left the room.

“ _Guys, lets help_ the boys!”, I shouted to the remaining group.

They all agreed. Gengar used more Ice Punches to break metallic structures. Riolu used Vacuum Waves to free a different group of Pokémon and Dragonite did the same with Dragon Claws. Just like Raboot, I also used Double Kicks as a resource to set the Poison-type Pokémon free. Soon, the entire room was emptied. It was _now_ missing Toxel, who I _really_ wanted to free _myself._ The man looked _furiously_ to us as he stood backwards but had picked up the Baby Pokémon and aimed a flask of mud to the top of Toxel’s spiky head. He threatened us:

“ _Good!_ You all freed those _weak_ Pokémon! _Who cares!!_ I’ve extracted enough _toxins_ from them to make the products I needed. I’ll make _a lot of cash_ with those once I return to the black market! But this Toxel here I‘m NOT handing him over!! It’s too valuable to let him go! Attack me, and this Pokémon will be _bathed in mud_!”

Ash and Goh frowned in discomfort.  
  
“If you do it, Toxel can be _badly_ injured!! Soil contact in Electric and Poison-type Pokémon can give _severe burns_ on their skin and make them _ill_ for not being able to produce electricity!!”, alerted Goh.

“Smart kid! You got it well! So, you’re better to watch out and _think well_ in what you’re going to do. Ask _all_ your Pokémon to return to the Poké Balls, hand them over to me and I won’t harm Toxel!”

“ _That’s unfair!!_ What are you going to do to them?!”, inquired Ash in rage.

“That’s not your business, _kid!!_ I’ve got plans for your Gengar, now the others _I’ll see about that!_ ”

Toxel was scared of that flask. I wasn’t certain if he had been mistreated with it before, or if he knew by instinct that he should avoid mud contact at every cost. _But I couldn’t stay still._ How to separate Toxel from the man without requiring us to attack? An idea then flashed in my head. It was _definitely crazy_ , but I _really had_ to _try it._

I turned to my Pokémon friends and shouted out loud:

“ _Guys!_ I’ve got a plan!! If we work together, we might _lure_ Toxel to our side in safety!!”

“A plan?!”, quickly asked Gengar.

“Do tell us!!”, said next Riolu.

“We’re listening!”, said Pikachu.

I took a deep breathing and I started to experiment a dance by slamming my paws hard on the rough cement floor. Everyone looked to me in confusion. I could tell from Raboot’s eyes he was going to yell after me that this wasn’t the time for _dancing_.

“ _Alright,_ this one should work.”, I commented to everyone. “Riolu?”

“ _Uh,_ yes?”

“Go to that empty oil tank. Give a good punch just to listen to its sound!”

“Y-You mean for _real_?!”

“Just do it, please!!”

Riolu hesitated but decided to do it anyway. A good _clank_ was echoing out from the punch.

“ _Excellent_ , try to do alternated punches with almost _two_ seconds of interval in between them!”

“Alright…”, and the Emanation Pokémon did it. _Clank!.......... Clank!............ Clank!............_

_Clank!............_

“What are you doing, Litten?!”, finally asked the Rabbit Pokémon in perplexity.

“Looking for a good pulsation!”

“ _Pulsation?..._ ”

“This is a human wording for a _musical rhythm_. Riolu’s percussion serves as a good _metronome_!”

“ _Hang on!!_ Are _we_ going to _play music_?!”

“Correct, Raboot! We’re _going_ to play a _music_!!”

“HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?! THIS IS NO TIME FOR CONCERTS!!”

“I knew you would think I went _completely_ _kooky_ but I know what I’m doing! Toxel _loves_ anything that has got _musicality_! It _stimulates_ his powers!!”

Pikachu nodded with his head after listening to my explanation.  
  
“Everyone! We should trust in Litten’s strategy, it could work out if she’s confident in this!”

“Thank you, Pikachu! I’ve got a task for you! Use those bits of wood and try hitting in those suspended chains over there!”

“Got it!”

The Electric-type Pokémon picked up in the natural objects and hit the artificial ones with them. _Cling!...Cling!... Cling!... Cling!... Cling!... Cling!..._

“Amazing! That can serve as a complementary percussion!”, I said. Then I turned to the tallest Pokémon of Ash. “Dragonite! You’ll be the bass! Babble a _grave_ tone, alternatively with Riolu’s punches! He punches, you sing! “Bah!” Sing a “ _Bah!_ ””

Dragonite looked shyly to everyone and eventually started to vocalize. _Bah!... Bah!... Bah!... Bah!... Bah!..._

“Perfect! We’re _almost_ there!”

Now I looked to Gengar, who I could see he was getting excited with this crazy plan of mine.  
  
“What instrument I’ll be?!”

“You’ll vocalize! Babble _random noises_ , you can use your normal voice! Just try to follow the rhythm!”

“ _Oh yes!! Noises!_ I _love_ that!!”

So, Gengar experimented singing random noises that were impulsively coming out of his mind. _Paarara! Parara! Paaaarabararah! Rararara!_

It was only missing Raboot. He looked to everyone in judgement and becoming really anxious because there was the possibility that everything _could go wrong_.

“ _I’m going to look stupid!!_ ”

“I _need_ you to _dance_ along with me!”

“Dance?!”

“ _Come on!_ Don’t tell me you _can’t_! You have the looks of being a Pokémon that can make some _groovy_ choreographies! Your feet are big enough for _tapdancing_ as well! Enter in the rhythm!”

I started to tap-dance with my tiny paws as I _glared_ to Raboot, _begging him_ to join us in the plan. Raboot hesitated. Even Riolu shouted to him “ _Help us!!_ ”. Long seconds later, Raboot exchanged his insecure feeling for a determined one. He was now tapdancing with plenty of energy. [And the music was rolling. A groovy one and rather oldie sounding. Not too fast or slow, just the right rhythm.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lgKzuN09Q0) I danced along with Raboot by shaking my whole body: head, hips, tail… Toxel was beginning to become attentive to what was echoing around. The shady human looked to us with a _tremendously puzzling face_ , blinking his weird eyes with perplexity. The boys weren’t saying a word but their mouths were opened since _minutes_ and barely moving their bodies out of their spots. They gave me a _final idea_.

“ _OK, guys!!_ This song we’re playing will have _lyrics_!!!

“Lyrics?!”, interjected Raboot as he kept dancing.

And that’s when I started to look well on the delinquent’s eyes without blinking or show any fear, and smiling with what I was going to improvise through singing. So, I begun to sing the improvised lyrics:

_“There’s a couple of two lads,_

_One could say they’re nomads,_

_But both are a bunch of airheads!_

_Their photographs are in the Lab’s frames,_

_Pay attention: Ash & Goh - These are their names!”_

All Pokémon looked to me in surprise.

“Really?! That’s the song’s _theme_?!”, Raboot quickly asked me with a tone of great questioning for my choice.

“ _Just stick to the lyrics!!_ ”, I asked him. And I kept singing:

_“Researching in daylight all the time,_

_Plays, looks and talks in night-time are all intime,_

_Nothing can split these two apart!_

_Dare doing such a thing and you’ll break their heart!”_

Suddenly, Pikachu started to sing out loud his own lyrics of the song:

_“My Trainer comes from Pallet Town!_

_Naps, food, battling Pokémon, all things he cares!_

_Ash’s a good boy; he won’t let you down!_

_His friends are everything, and likes to give them some scares!”_

And by our surprise, Raboot energetically sung his own part:

_“Capturing this and that,_

_Self-centred studying this and there,_

_Vermilion City boy he is, difficult to get a chat,_

_That’s the definition of Goh, the one with shaded hair!”_

And the vocals of Dragonite and Gengar complemented the song’s lyric pause. The Poison-type Pokémon were still nearby, probably due to the lack of an easy exit of the building. They were lured by the _groovy music_ we were playing at the moment. Toxel was smiling widely as he started to clap in sync with the song. And so, did Ash, startling his boyfriend in awkwardness:

“Ash?!”

“I have no idea what they’re singing about but I like it! Clap along, Goh!!”

“ _I-_ “

“ _Trust_ in the Pokémon! Like you _did_ in Littleroot Town with Raboot, remember?!”

“S-Sure, I’ll trust! I’ll clap with you then!”

And the boyfriends clapped in pace with the music’s pulsation. I would have laughed out loud in a normal circumstance because of they having absolutely _no idea_ of what we were singing _about_ as they were clapping in rhythm with the song. But this was serious. I wanted Toxel to use his moves without the boys needing to instruct anything. No human around us knew about his moveset.

Gengar begun to make some beatboxing, almost in _trance_. He was _really_ into this groove.

I was singing a little more to the _idiot_ that was still staring to us dancing in our little concert:

_“Seen nearly every Pokémon in existence,_

_Electricity-filled spirit, Ash’s a restless one,_

_To give more facts, this child is extremely dense,_

_That’s until he met his chosen one,_

_Who pierced the thick barrier, he captured his soul: Goh! With a Master Ball!_

_Pokémon everywhere, so many out there,_

_Hunger for all that knowledge is endless,_

_Mew is the main goal for the tech-enthusiast Goh,_

_His bubble of emotions is like a battlefield, no more no less,_

_Only one by a single boy, the battle was won! Who was it? Ash! With his smile! Determination!”_

_Gathered by fate, that’s the true story,_

_Thank you for listening to my talk session,_

_You had to know, to check it out, this powerful phenomenal chemistry,_

_All because of their common passion,_

_The love for Pokémon!!”_

And that’s when I started to vigorously tapdance while singing out of my lungs a transition to a [fanfare that is quite famous among human ears](https://youtu.be/awayMiW9zpk?t=15). My Pokémon friends joined me to sing this along. Surprisingly to our group, _all_ the Poison-type audience did the same thing, in a _spine-chilling choir_ that echoed the _whole_ room. Raboot and I danced around the boys who kept clapping in sync with the song, without retiring the eyes from the man. Some of the previously kidnapped Pokémon decided to join us in the circle as well.

Toxel was amused with the incredible mobilization that was going on at this moment. He gave a good Nuzzle move to the kidnapper, who cried out of shock in _both ways_. This allowed the Pokémon to get out of his arm and crawl closer to us in safety.

“Music!!”, he exclaimed in excitement as he giggled.

“That’s it, Toxel!! Come to your _big sister_!!”, I told him out loud as I kept dancing.

The kidnapper was furious.

“ _Enough_ of your diversion moment!!”

His hand revealed a Heavy Ball and a Nest Ball. He harshly threw them out, revealing two Pokémon. One of them was the _aggressive_ Tangrowth of before, and the other one was a Bronzong. The thief’s Pokémon cried out in an attempt to intimidate us. _The show was over._

“POWER WHIP ON THAT TOXEL!”

I ran _immediately_ towards Toxel in an attempt to protect him but I wasn’t quick enough. Tangrowth managed to hold the Baby Pokémon with a vine and keeping him nearby his blue body. I couldn’t attack him this way!

“Oh no!!”, the kids interjected.

“LEAVE THAT BABY ALONE!”, shouted Gengar, upset after what was happening. He floated fast towards Tangrowth while preparing an Ice Punch.

“GENGAR!!”, yelled Ash.

“BRONZONG! USE PSYCHIC!”

“Get lost, _gaseous ball_!!”, coldly ordered the Bronze Bell Pokémon as he obeyed to his Trainer’s instruction. Gengar was frozen in middle air and tossed hard towards a wall afterwards. It was a _very strong_ move. Our ghost Pokémon was shaking in pain on the floor. We were all gasping in _panic_.

Dragonite was the next one to be upset. He vigorously flapped his wings and used a Hurricane move towards the offending Pokémon, lifting some lighter objects around in a spiral pattern. Bronzong wasn’t quite affected by it and Tangrowth had taken advantage of the previous move of his to stay firm on the floor with an arm stuck in the ground like a tree root.

“You might be big, but my Pokémon don’t fear _anything_!”, assured the Croagunk-eyed man. “Bronzong! Use Rock Slide!”

And so, he did. The rocks caught Dragonite’s wings, making him lose control of his flight and falling down. It was super-effective.

“DRAGONITE!!”, the kids yelled at the same time.

“Riolu! _Let’s team up!!_ ”, suggested Raboot to the Emanation Pokémon, who didn’t hesitate to accept.

“ _They’re getting on my nerves!_ ”, Riolu vented out as he launched a Vacuum Wave to the thick body of Tangrowth, who kept enduring himself. Raboot picked up a debris to perform an Ember move and gave a good shot onto Bronzong’s head. To our astonishment, Bronzong _didn’t even groan_.

“ _H-How is it possible?!_ ”, Goh asked in great perplexity.

The man evilly laughed. He explained:

“My Bronzong knows Heatproof ability. Fire _isn’t_ a solution to take him down! You need much _more_ than _that_!”

“ _Urgh!!!!_ ”, groaned Ash in great frustration as he closed tightly his right hand.

“TASTE THIS!”, shouted a leaping Pikachu that slapped his own cheeks and used a strong Thunderbolt move on Bronzong. _Incredible._ That Steel-type Pokémon wasn’t feeling much from all the moves we’ve tried to use. _I hated to admit it but he was so well trained._

“Do you have a strategy, Ash?!”, nervously asked Goh to his boyfriend.

“ _I’m trying to think_ , although our Pokémon have done things I would have instructed to do as well…!”, he replied.

It was difficult to see Ash so unsecure about finding out a solution for this difficult confrontation. Normally he’s got a trick under his cap. I was _too worried_ for Toxel’s safety to wait for an order. So, I decided to run to the Baby Pokémon. I jumped to Tangrowth’s arm to bite it and pressing my claws on.

“ _Get lost, fire cat!!_ ”, complained the Vine Pokémon, shaking me off from his limb.

“ _Big sister!!_ ”, shouted Toxel, with a saddened look.

“Stay calm, Toxel! _I’ll save you!!!_ HIDE YOUR FACE!”

Once I’ve finished to alert him, I arched my spine and begun inhaling. Next, I exhaled a Flamethrower. It _hit_ on Tangrowth _this time_. The Pokémon shouted with the damage. Toxel was hiding his face behind the arm to protect himself from the heat.

“ _Nice one_ , Litten!!”, Ash shouted out.

“ _That cat of yours!!_ ”, groaned the delinquent, unhappy with my action. “Bronzong, use Psychic on _everyone_ _except_ _Litten_!”

Before anyone had time to react they were _all_ under control of Bronzong’s powerful Psychic move. All bodies were floating in middle-air, except for the other Poison-type Pokémon and I. _Even the children_ were caught up by the move. The kidnapped Pokémon were afraid and were tucked back behind the crates and oil canisters observing to everything that was happening.

“PUT US DOWN!”, yelled the two kids.

“Give a _single_ instruction to _any_ of your Pokémon, and I’ll _break_ your bones apart in a blitz and let you _suffer_ alone!”, blackmailed the Sinnoh suspect.

 _I felt so frustrated_. _I was really mad._ All of this was going on by _my fault_. All because I _wanted a few hours of peace_. I was _selfish_ , I was _irresponsible_. I didn’t think in the consequences of leaving Toxel alone at home. And I dragged the children and their Pokémon to this problem that could have been _perfectly avoided in first place_. I had to save my _honour_. I had to _face_ these bruits _alone_.

“VERY WELL! I applaud your _courage_ by not _even_ letting me _choose_ a battling partner for a proper Double Battle! _Fine!_ More to proof that I am _more_ than just a _mere Litten_! I’m a Fire-type Pokémon that _doesn’t_ turn her back to a challenge! Even if it’s a _mad_ , and _impartial_ one! I’ve challenged the Captains in Alola _alone_!!! I took _all_ of their Pokémon _down_! I’ll _take you both down_ to release that Toxel! Even if that _costs my life_!!”

“Litten!!! _Be careful_!!”, Pikachu shouted in worry.

“Bronzong’s _crazy tough_!!”, alerted Gengar.

“Don’t do anything _stupid_ , Litten! I’ll never _forgive_ you!!!”, yelled Raboot in despair.

“Take Bronzong down _first_ for we can be freed!!!”, suggested Dragonite in aguish.

“You can do it! I see that through your _burning soul_!!!”, observed Riolu out loud.

“My Tangrowth _hates_ heat. His vines are very _delicate_ , you _stupid feline_!”, told me the thief with a menacing look. “I’ll show you _no mercy_! Tangrowth! Use Ancient Power on Litten!”

Once again, some giant rocks were orbiting around the tall Pokémon and were aggressively thrown at me. I avoided most of the minerals except for one that knocked me a few meters away. The kids screamed for my name in despair. They were wanting _so badly_ to give me instructions but they were scared of the consequences considering they were under Bronzong’s control. Tangrowth had suddenly illuminated itself. Ash gasped in stress.

“His move just increased _all_ of his capabilities!!”

“Really?! _This is baaad_!!”, reacted Goh as stressed as his lover.

“Again, Tangrowth!”

 _More flying rocks._ They were _larger, harder and heavier_. I kept being hit by a _shower of minerals_. I don’t know how many times I’ve cried out of aching. It was too much _damage_ to hold. My Pokémon friends were wiggling around the air in a desperate attempt to get freed of the Psychic move, wanting to help me out. I heard everyone shouting out all kinds of stuff to me.  
  
“ _Big sister!!!_ ”, yelled out Toxel in agony for seeing me being beaten down by the powerful Pokémon that prevented him to escape.

“ _Toxel!!!_ ”, I replied back with a weaker voice. “ _I’m so sorry!_ You’re here because of _me_!! I was an _idiot_!!! This is a _payback_ of my actions!!”

I get interrupted by more falling stones, tossing me again to the floor. And like the previous times, I force myself to get up with my trembling limbs. The criminal was really determined in making me go for an anticipated meeting with Tapu Fini once she would use her special ability to talk to spirits that are long gone.

“BIG SISTER!!”, yelled once again Toxel with a shakier voice while stretching an arm.

I used my last strength to lift up my head and see Toxel for a _last time_. Tears have escaped from my trembling eyes. I told Toxel:

“You’re _not_ ugly. You’re _not_ annoying. I was just _jealous_!! _I love you!! You’re my little brother!!!_ ”

“FINISH IT OFF!”, fiercely commanded the thief to his Pokémon.

“ _Once upon a time_ , there WAS a Litten!!!”, expressed out an overconfident Tangrowth, conjuring a last Ancient Power move on the tip of his free arm. Everyone was screaming out my name in despair with broken voices.

“BIG SISTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!!!” yelled Toxel _out of his lungs_ as he was crying with _all_ his _might_ with running _tears_ on his white cheeks.

A miracle begun manifesting. Toxel started to _glow_ in a light blue colour with an echoing mystical sound. Tangrowth stopped his move out of surprise because of the strong light glowing up in his other arm. Everyone in the group looked to it in amazement with tears on their eyes, myself included. _Toxel was growing in size._ His arms _stretched_ in length. Spikes _emerged_ from his hips. The chest was more _defined_. And the flickering forehead was _no longer there_. It _moved_ to his nape and it had split into two. He was significantly _taller_ now, almost as big as the Tangrowth that had released him due to the growth in size. The light vanished after a while. _Toxel had evolved._

“ _H-he evolved!!_ ”, stuttered Ash, moved with the happening.

“ _HA!_ _It’s about time_!!!”, commented the thief out loud in satisfaction. “Toxtricity at his Low Key Form! The market value _doubles_ when compared with a Toxel!!”

“ _Toxtricity?..._ ”, whispered Goh upon learning the name of the evolved Pokémon.

The freshly evolved Pokémon begun to move his new hands on the purple protrusion on his chest. A sound similar to a bass guitar had played. _One clef_. More were heard afterwards. Then, Toxtricity started to play a sort of a guitar ballad without taking his eyes out of his chest. We then heard him talking for the first time, with a low and soothing voice, through a chant:

_“My name’s Toxtricity…_

_Music’s everything to me…_

_Take a good listen to my ability…_

_Have a seat on my stage of juvenility…_

_…Because the show will start **now**.”_

  
Sparks suddenly begun to generate on his chest as he turned his head and glared to the man in scorn, playing other song that much more energic.

“ _Don’t_ do _that face_ to me! _You’re coming with me!!_ Tangrowth, use Sleep Powder!”

Toxtricity turned his long body towards the Grass-Pokémon and pressed his stretched hand to his opponent’s chest.

“A Poison Jab!!”, gasped Ash in surprise.

“Well done!!”, cheered up Goh to Toxtricity.

Tangrowth hadn’t time to perform the move, and he was complaining a lot with pain. Some purple bubbles appeared around him, confirming he had just been _poisoned_!

“TANGROWTH!!”, his Trainer exclaimed.

“ _That was strong!..._ ”, mumbled Tangrowth, struggling to focus with the status condition slowly draining his energy.

“COUNTER WITH CONSTRICT!! KEEP FIGHTING!!”

His arm tried to reach Toxtricity, who swayed sideways to avoid the grabbing. He seemed to be sort in a _trance_ , probably because of music. It was weird to see but it was _extremely cool_ seeing him _toying_ the adversary that _way_. Tangrowth kept _failing_ in succession and Toxtricity kept _grooving_ over the situation. His Trainer was hating seeing that:  
  
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU IDIOT?! JUST GRAB HIM!!!”

The tangled Pokémon couldn’t do much else. Toxtricity looked with some indifference to a fainting Grass-type, who had passed out due to the poison effect. He then looked to Bronzong by just twisting his head a little sideways and lifting his chin. The Bronze Bell Pokémon lost some of his confidence, considering his bulky battling partner had fainted with rather ease. Toxtricity started to tap one of his foot on the floor and playing a different tune, a little quicker, without removing the eyes of his adversary. He sung the following lyrics with progressive high volume:

_“Heartless! Compassionless!_

_Emotionless! Substanceless!_

_These adjectives and many more,_

_Aren’t enough to describe your Trainer’s monstrosity!_

_We are, Pocket Monsters, living beings_

_that roam around this planet since eternity!_

_All of us carry a word unknown to him: **HUMAAAAAANIIIIITYYYYYY!!!** ”_

Upon finishing the last sentence, the floor started to tremble as the walls vibrated with the _loud_ electrical screech coming out from Toxtricity’s chest, with electricity flowing around him and a lightning bolt hitting quite hard on Bronzong, who screeched a loud metallic sound. We heard shattering windows due to the power of that loud vocal performance of the purple and blue Pokémon that was shaking his head as he had his tongue stuck out from the mouth. All of us covered the ears. _Such tremendous power!!_ Bronzong was overwhelmed with the electrical charge he had absorbed and fainted. This allowed everyone to be freed from the Psychic move and return safely to the ground. The thief was _panicking_. Everyone glared furiously to the man; he was cornered now that his Pokémon were _no longer willing to battle_!

“You have to deliver yourself to the Police!”, shouted Goh.

“ _Surrender!_ There’s no way out!!”, added Ash.

“ _Raticate!!!_ ”, interjected the delinquent who tried to run away to other direction. Ash’s Pokémon blocked the passage alongside with Raboot. The man ran to a third path and all the Poison-type Pokémon he had tortured before were _angrily_ blocking the way. He tried to retreat but he crashed onto Toxtricity’s chest. The purple and blue Pokémon looked to the man with the same face he did for Bronzong.

“ _L-Listen, I just want to get out of here!_ Look how _strong_ you’ve got with _all_ those Rare Candies I’ve fed you! You should be thankful for my hel-!!”, the man chuckled nervously, suddenly interrupted by Toxtricity grabbing his shirt with both hands and lifting the human up who was screaming in fear.

“ _Baaaad human!!_ ”, we heard Toxtricity stating.

The Pokémon started to turn around in circles without releasing the man who was panicked. He released the man after some twirls, towards a crate tower that crumbled right on the suspect’s head. Toxtricity cleaned his hands after finishing the throw as he stuck his tongue out to blow a Razz Berry.

“Toxtricity! _Thank you so much_ for saving us!!”, thanked Ash marvelled with this new Pokémon he had never seen before, as he raced closer to him.

“You’re an _amazing_ Pokémon!!”, complimented Goh in excitement, also already nearby him, looking around to observe his physical form. The boys’ Pokémon said identical stuff to the newly evolved friend and kept expressing gratitude for the rescuing.

Then, the whole group went to see me. They were relieved to see that I was still conscious and able to get up despite of being _very weak_. Goh did what he could to keep me stable by using a Super Potion from his belongings and other items to relief some pain before I could be taken to a Pokémon Center. The two boys petted my head as they giggled.

“I frankly _want_ to catch a Litten like you, one day!”, smiled Goh.

“You and my Incineroar would be great friends if you were meeting each other!”, grinned Ash.

Dragonite picked me up and gave me a very warm hug.

“I was _so worried_ when you were being attacked!! I knew how strong was that Ancient Power!”

Gengar hugged me from a corner as he floated. He was a little teary.

“As much I love ghosts, _I didn’t want you to become one!!_ ”

I was getting moved with everything I was listening to. The kind words were not over yet. After being placed on the ground, Riolu rushed to hug me tight.

“Good to see you safe and sound! _You’re crazier than me!_ ”

“You’re _inspiring_! Next time I battle larger opponents than me I’ll remember this moment, Litten!”, told me Pikachu alongside with a hug.

It was just missing Raboot, who frowned his eyes. They were _trembling_.

“ _Never_ do that _again_!”, he said as he tightly embraced his arms behind my head. I hugged back and couldn’t help but smile.

“Trust me, _I won’t_. Ancient Power is _quite_ painful for your back!”

Our attentions then turned to the depths of the division. A large clank echoed around with the recognizable sound of falling chains. A flashlight pointed to all of us and two voices pronounced out loud:

“INTERNATIONAL POLICE!”

“VERMILION CITY POLICE!”

It was Officer Looker and Officer Jenny! The codenamed man was showing his badge and Jenny was holding a Poké Ball with a Growlithe standing at her front, barking a request of not making a move.

The shady man had recovered from the impact with the crates, he was scratching his bald head. He didn’t offer resistance when Looker approached him and placed the handcuffs on his pulses.  
  
“You’re under arrest. _No more_ Pokémon exploration!”

“ _J-Just take me out of here… I want Poison-types out of my life!!_ ”, the arrested man mumbled about.

“ _Looker!_ Officer Jenny!”, exclaimed Ash in relief.

“ _We’re safe now!_ ”, noted Goh sighing also in relief.

“ _Check this out,_ there’s _lots_ of material here to confiscate. A productive day!, observed Officer Jenny with satisfaction.

“ _Boys,_ are you alright?!”, asked Looker to the children.

“We are! But our Pokémon should be seen by Nurse Joy!”, noted Goh with concern.

“Litten, especially! She’s the one that’s more wounded!”, explained Ash in detail.

A familiar barking sound had appeared, a voice us Pokémon were recognizing. Then we gasped in surprise when we saw who it was.

“ _Everyone!!_ You’re all here!!!”

“YAMPER?!”

That’s when Chloe showed herself up, panting in tiredness. She was pushing Hope’s wheelchair too who was looking to us in amazement.

“ _There they are!!_ ”, my Trainer said.

“CHLOE?! HOPE?!”, we exclaimed.

* * *

Moments later, we were in the exterior of the secret basement. It turned out it was other warehouse hidden in a more remote area of Route 6. It was night time, which meant we must have been asleep for _at least eight hours_. _What a powerful Sleep Powder effect, I thought!_ It could explain why we were all starving as well. We _hadn’t_ any lunch!

There was a lot of police cars parked around with the flashing sirens and a couple of officers exchanging notes and other important information. Others were confiscating the materials to a special truck. The suspect man had been taken inside a car alongside with his Pokémon. That same vehicle left. In the meantime, Officer Jenny had found the boys’ Rotom Phones and returned them to their owners.

Chloe had come closer to the boys with a _furious_ look. She begun to shout to her friends:

“GUYS!! _FIRST_ , GOH RETURNS FROM MT. EMBER WITH A _BURNT_ ARM. AND TODAY, YOU BOTH GOT _KIDNAPPED_ BY ONE OF THE MOST _WANTED_ CRIMINALS OF THE REGION OF SINNOH THAT _COULD_ HAVE DONE TERRIBLE THINGS TO YOU! I _SWEAR_ THAT ANY DAY, BECAUSE OF YOUR JOURNEYS, OBSESSION ABOUT POKÉMON AND ALL THE TROUBLES YOU TWO GET INVOLVED INTO, I’LL AWAKE IN A _HOSPITAL BED_ BECAUSE OF AN _HEART ATTACK_!!”

The boyfriends felt intimidated with Chloe’s heavy scolding as she moved her upper limbs while she vented out her frustration. Then their faces showed a more neutral one after she had extended her arms and hugged her friends at the same time.

“You _can’t_ imagine how _worried_ I was about you. _I’m so relieved you are unharmed…_ ”

Ash and Goh smiled in compassion and hugged her back. “ _Thank you, Chloe…_ ” they said.

Hope was the greatest surprise for them in terms of physical presence. They faced her and Goh asked:

“Shouldn’t you be at home?”

“Chloe did the same question to me.”, my Trainer observed. “Hours had passed and my parents had to work tonight. I was alone at home and I couldn’t stop thinking about both Litten and Toxel. If my parents were here, I knew they wouldn’t have allowed me to get out by my own. But that’s _exactly_ what I did. I looked for the Cerise Laboratory address and I moved alone to the institute.”

“When she arrived, she rung our building’s door.”, continued the pig-tailed girl. “I was still there and Hope saw me in a great state of anxiety because I _saw_ your lost phone call, Goh. I know you for years and if there’s something I’m absolutely certain it’s the fact that you _rarely_ do phone calls. When I tried to phone you back, it was saying the number wasn’t available. I first thought that you could have ran out of battery but there was still no response at the hour of closure of my dad’s laboratory. _I began to imagine the worst._ Dad, Ren and Chrysa got extremely worried and contacted the Vermilion City police. There was a great coincidence because one of the officers, Looker, that was stablishing contact with the police-station _knew_ Ash. Because of that both Officer Looker and Officer Jenny went to see us immediately at the institute.”

“The police officers managed to track down the last geolocation of your Rotom Phones, it was pointing to Route 6. We could find you in the end thanks to Chloe’s Yamper because of the _scent_ of your _pyjamas_. Officer Jenny’s Growlithe also helped out in the searches after smelling the clothes.”, finished Hope to reconstitute what happened in their side.

“Thank you for finding us, Yamper!”, immediately thanked Ash as he held him up.

“You’re welcome!!”, he replied as the canine licked the boy’s face.

Hope had looked next to Toxtricity in amazement. She asked:

“ _Is this my Toxel?..._ ”

Goh smiled while negating with his head and pointing Rotom Phone to the Pokémon while saying: “No, it’s your _Toxtricity_.”

The device started to dictate out loud the following information:

_“Toxtricity! The Punk Pokémon! The evolved form of Toxel! Electric and Poison type! It has an electrical organ on its chest. While generating electricity, it fills its surroundings with what sounds like the strumming of a bass guitar. Two different forms of this Pokémon exist: Amped and Low Key!”_

“ _Incredible!_ So, this is what my cousin meant about?...”, commented Hope with her trembling eyes.

“You’ve got other _powerful_ and _cool_ Pokémon in your hands, Hope! We’ve witnessed an _incredible electrical move_ from him!”, told Ash in excitement.

“The Pokédex’s saying it’s called Overdrive. It’s unique to this Pokémon according to the current database!”, observed Goh.

“That’s _so awesome_!! I want to see him doing that one of these days when I manage to go to participate in battles again!”, joyfully said my Trainer to the group.

I took the opportunity to go closer to Toxtricity, who was much taller than me now and forced me to move my head upwards. _I was a little shy at first_ , but I decided to talk to him with _great_ honesty:

“ _Toxel… No!_ Toxtricity! I’m sorry for treating you _so badly_ before, I was really _mean_ and not giving a chance to you. I was _stupid_ for wanting to claim Hope all to myself. I almost _paid with my own life_ because of such a mistake. Yet, you _saved us all_ from a criminal. _I’m so sorry!_ You’re an _awesome_ and _cool-looking_ Pokémon!!”, I finished with a tense bow.

I couldn’t hear any response from the Punk Pokémon. I just felt a gentle head petting that made me curious. I looked again to his face. _He was smiling._ After, he placed his hands on the chest protrusion and played a very soft guitar tune. And he cautiously sung the following words, quoting a [famous international song](https://youtu.be/Fna56a_r41s?t=49) lyrics in Toxtricity’s slower, serene version:

_“IIII… was born… to take care of you…_

_With eeeevery single beat… of my heaaaart…_

_Yeeees, I… was born… to take care of yooou…_

_Eeeevery single day… of my liiiiife…”_

I was _lost for words_ for quoting that song he had heard while he was _still_ in the _egg_. I sniffed and couldn’t control my emotions. Tears couldn’t stop running from my face and I hugged his leg, crying out loud. _It was just beautiful!_ _This Pokémon is too sweet!!!_

“ _I love you, big sister._ Or rather… _little-big sister_!” he reacted with a cute smile as he lifted me up and placed me on his shoulder, enjoying my head rubbing on his.

Hope was very pleased to see we were now getting along. The boys decided to comment a detail:

“Hope.”, started Goh. “Your Litten didn’t want this to happen. She was quite dedicated to find Toxtricity back.”

“It’s true!”, continued Ash. “And while we were trapped inside the warehouse, she was _very brave_! She faced a Tangrowth and a Bronzong _all by herself_! She got wounded very badly because of her effort to save your Pokémon and each of us all from their control!”

“ _Wow,_ really?”, she smiled with shining eyes after listening to everything. “This is why I’ve accepted to be your Trainer in Alola, Litten! I knew you were a special Pokémon! _I’m so proud of you!!_ ”

I was _so happy_ to have recovered Hope’s _trust_! Everything was alright now!

“By the way, Hope.”, talked Chloe to her. “Have you already given a Poké Ball to Toxtricity?”

“ _Oh!!! I was forgetting about it again!!_ ” she anxiously exclaimed. “I could have bought one in my way to the Cerise Laboratory! _I didn’t think about it!_ ”

“No need to.”, assured Goh with a smile as he was looking for something on his backpack. The blue-eyed boy handed over an Ultra Ball to my red-haired Trainer.

“Goh, isn’t that the Ultra Ball that Litten has found for you at Treasure Beach two weeks ago?”, curiously inquired Ash.

“It is. I don’t need it. Hope _does it more_ now. And anyway, this is a way I have to thank Litten for _helping_ us all inside that warehouse.”

Ash smiled after listening to his boyfriend’s explanation and he was in full agreement with what Goh had said. Chloe equally smiled for the kind gesture of her childhood friend.

“ _Well,_ you heard it. Accept Goh’s Ultra Ball.”, told Chloe to Hope.

“Thank you so much!”, she thanked as she took the Ultra Ball out from the Vermilion City lad’s hand.

I got out from Toxtricity’s shoulder to let her do what she needed to: to claim the Punk Pokémon as his Trainer.

“Toxtricity. From now on, you’re _my partner_! We’ll be together from now on! With me! And with Litten!”, she happily said out loud.

“ _Alright!!_ ”, he interjected while widely opening his arms in joy.

Hope threw the Ultra Ball to his head and he went inside the spherical black and yellow object. It rocked three times and locked itself. Chloe picked it up and handed it over to Hope:

“All yours!”

“YAHOO!” she shouted while lifting the Ultra Ball as she laughed out loud. “I’m Toxtricity’s _Trainer_!!”

I partied along by excitingly jumping around Hope’s wheelchair.  
  
“Toxtricity! Come out!”

She opened the Ultra Ball and Toxtricity did a cool pose as he played a very quick guitar tune.  
  
“Good evening, _my dudes_!!”, he said.

We Pokémon laughed after listening to that cool intro. They were really enjoying the personality of Hope’s new partner. After he finished doing that he went behind Hope’s wheelchair and grabbed the handles to run around in circles with Hope, who couldn’t stop laughing. The other children had fun observing that scenario!

“Hey! Now thanks to Toxtricity’s humanoid body, he can carry you around to other places and like this you won’t be alone all the time at home!”

“That’s true, Ash!”, she agreed with her Pokémon.  
  
“I’m really happy for you, Hope!”, smiled Chloe.

“I’ll _definitely_ do that. And visiting more times the Cerise Laboratory!”

Officer Looker had reached us and cheerfully placed the hands on his hips.

“I _can’t_ really remove my eyes out of you, Ash! If I knew beforehand that the criminal was here, I wouldn’t have separated from you and Goh!”

“ _Sorry about that…_ ”, the lad apologized with a faint blush of shame.

“Don’t be! You couldn’t guess where was he, anyway. The most important is that you’re fine. _And I‘m going to assume nobody had dinner yet._ ”

“ _You tell me about it,_ Officer Looker.”, confirmed Chloe. “I was _so stressed_ with Ash and Goh going missing that my stomach was _as closed as a vault_.”

“It’s ok, Chloe. I also didn’t dine yet. I would be capable to eat an okonomiyaki of the _size_ of a _Tyranitar_!”

Goh gave a burst of laughter listening to that and commented: “You’re going to blow up!”

“ _Actually, Goh… I would do the same thing._ ”, countered Ash to his boyfriend.

“You _stay away_ from the conversation, _Ash_. You could eat the _entire universe_ if you _could_.”, awkwardly pointed out Chloe.

Officer Looker couldn’t stop laughing, just like _everyone else_. Ash turned completely _red_ in colour, crossing his arms and pretending to be offended. The adult man calmed down and told the boys:

“Once again, you were helpful in my investigation. The criminal had bad luck in crossing paths with you. I’ve already phoned the Cerise Laboratory to tranquilize Chloe’s father and his crew. They know you’re all fine and I told them I would offer you dinner as a commemoration.”

“WOW! WE’RE DINING OUTSIDE?!”, shouted out Ash in an effervescent excitement.

“ _There we go, again…_ ”, sighed Chloe.

“Ash! I can _bet you_ I’ll eat _more_ than you!” defied Hope with great confidence.

“ _No way!_ I will!”, countered a determined Ash.

“I’m going to record the challenge to have visual evidence later.”, said Goh to Chloe.

“ _I’m glad it’s not my dad paying the bill this time…_ ”, the pig-tailed girl commented with a subtle giggle.

Both Pikachu’s Trainer and mine kept affirming they would be the _victorious eater_ for the incoming dinner. My electric friend looked to me with some awkwardness. He expressed the following sentence:

“Looker’s Wallet used _Minimize_!”

“I would say something better than that.”

“What is it?”, asked Raboot.

“Looker’s Wallet used _Incinerate_!”

Pikachu and Raboot laughed about my more _extreme_ version of what would possibly _happen_ to the Officer’s wallet by the time he needed to _pay_ the dining bill. _Better he had a fire extinguisher hidden inside that multipurpose raincoat he was wearing!_

**Author's Note:**

> Let me tell you how difficult it is for a non-native to invent rhymed lyrics that actually make sense. Toxtricity is one of my favourite Galarian Pokémon and I thought I could share my love for it through this second chapter of the Litten Narrative series! Coming soon, chapter 3! Thank you for your reading!


End file.
